M.I.A. Documentary Melts Down

HERE’S A TRAILER for a documentary about Controversial Rapper™ M.I.A. that appears to simultaneously summarise everything that is laudably promising and, at the same time, supremely annoying about Hounslow-born, Sri Lanka-bred Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam. Even if it makes your blood boil during or afterwards, you kind of have to see it. The trailer features her father, whom she alleges was a leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers freedom fighters/terrorists, and plenty of fawning guests underlining MIA’s outsider credentials, including Julian “WikiLeaks” Assange. All it lacks is a brief cameo from Edward Snowden.

But it seems that the undoubtedly talented provocatrix, whose music has sampled Suicide, The Clash and sundry other lodestars of cool, may not get to see her film, as director and longtime collaborator Steve Loveridge has quit the job, citing interference and funding shortfalls on the part of M.I.A.’s label Roc Nation. Loveridge has been widely quoted as saying he “would rather die than work on this”, after posting the trailer.

Appearing to corroborate the implication that Roc Nation had pulled the plug on the film, M.I.A. tweeted "im gonna need @kickstarter and my fans to help make this exsist , ive been black listed through normal channels !!!!!!!"

A fourth M.I.A. album, entitled Matangi, is due this autumn on the Mercury label, but that too has been held up by reported differences between the artist and record company.