M.I.A has been accused of glamorising terrorism by her producer and former boyfriend Diplo, who claims that the Sri Lankan musician “knows nothing” about the political topics which she comments on in her songs.
Diplo worked as producer on all three of M.I.A’s previous records, which have received various degrees of commercial success (with her most recent LP ‘Maya’ dividing critical opinion). However, he has now claimed that he advised her not to engage with political material on her last release, claiming that it would result in the album failing.
Speaking about his ex-girlfriend’s political stance, Diplo told WWD.com: "Maya left herself open for attacks. She's not an easy artist to criticise because she's very left-leaning, she's progressive, she's a woman. She's good in a lot of aspects, but when it comes to die-hard, facts-on-the-ground politics she's at zero. She's nothing."
He continued: "I told her at the beginning of the third record, 'Do not bring politics into this'. Obama's the President, for one. You just can’t glamorise terrorism, it's not cool... you can’t hide behind that s*it."
"But she totally did. She didn’t have a plan B. I told her from the beginning it's not going to work. And [journalist] Lynn Hirschberg just ate it up. If she didn’t the critics would have ate her up anyway because the record wasn’t good."
Mitcham-born M.I.A is currently working on her fourth studio album ‘Ikhyd’ with the likes of Chris Brown and Swizz Beatz in Los Angeles. A release date is yet to be confirmed.
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