Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, born July, 1977 in London, England is a precocious and gifted female artist, film graduate and musician. Her father is a Tamil revolutionary, always a good thing to have if you want to be different and sell plenty of concert tickets. Her stage name M.I.A. is the moniker by which she is best recognized, and her musical style combines hip-hop, electronic, reggae, dance, and funk. Her fame came largely via the internet, one of the original webstars to explode, and M.I.A.'s popularity soared when she released the tape Piracy Funds Terrorism, which she produced with DJ Diplo.

Her 2005 debut album, Arular, sold over 100,000 copies, and tickets to MIA were suddenly very trendy. The album's main offering, the song Galang, appeared in a Honda advertisment. On the album, there is a hidden track embedded in Galang; The song goes quiet for a minute or two, before a new track continues playing.