M.I.A.'s going hard on the promo trail for her new album, MAYA, revealing she used to hang out with Tupac, her love for Madonna and her lack of love for Lady Gaga.
In a cover story interview with Nylon, M.I.A. proved her hip hop cred, explaining: "I was always going out to L.A. because my cousin lived there, and she knew all the Bloods and Crips. So I was hanging out with her, having crazy times, and then I’d come back and be like, 'I hung out with Tupac last week!' and nobody knew who he was!"
Tupac's not the only artist M.I.A. is name-dropping, however, as she continued her crusade against Gaga, telling The New York Times her shocking video for "Born Free" was an attempt to copy Gaga's video for "Telephone", "Both our videos are road movies. We kill people, and they kill people. They start out in a prison, and we start out in a squat, hunting people down.
“I can’t talk about Gaga anymore," she conceded. "All I’ll say is, it’s upsetting when babies say ga-ga now. It used to be innocent. Now, they’re calling her name."
In the same interview M.I.A. praised Madonna's ability to stand out from the crowd, "Madonna is the one. Madonna did amazing songs. She had an amazing sense of style, without a stylist. And she was flawed, and sometimes she admitted it. I’ll fight the fight for Madonna. I think she should send me some chocolates or something to thank me.
"You can’t really say that GaGa is culturally a change. Madonna was truly unique."
M.I.A.'s MAYA is due for release in July.