WATCH: M.I.A. addresses refugee crisis in new video for ‘Borders’
By Claire Anderson.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, who is better known by her stage name M.I.A., is no stranger to hardship and controversy.
By the time she turned 11, her life was already marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War.
In 1986 her family moved to London where they were housed as refugees.
She has been subject to both praise and criticism over her comments on the oppression of African Americans, Palestinians and Tamils.
The lyrics to ‘Borders’ include “Let’s beat ‘em/ We them smartphones done beat ‘em/ Borders/ What's up with that?/ Politics/ What's up with that?/ Police shots/ What's up with that?”
