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Re: M.I.A. starts her own record label, N.E.E.T.
The hottest chick in the streets right now isn't from New York, Philadelphia or L.A. She wasn't even born in the U.S. Yet, everyone from 50 Cent to Jim Jones to Kanye West is so in love with her music, they've jumped on her track or sampled her voice. Guess what? Her popularity is finally resonating in the mainstream as well, thanks to the "Pineapple Express" trailer.
"Um, I wasn't paying attention when it happened," M.I.A. said last week via phone from her native London about the rise of "Paper Planes." The record is more than a year old, yet it's still popping up daily on mixtapes. 50, Jones, members of State Property and others have inserted their verses on unofficial remixes. Meanwhile, Kanye West sampled her vocals while making the track for T.I.'s "Swagger Like Us."
"I think it's cool when you bring all these rappers and artists like the Clash together," she said. "It's cool that they support it. It's so many people that be like, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' It's kind of like 'This is the sh--, and we think it's hot.' It's great, especially coming from London.
"The song wasn't ... made with marketing blah, blah, blah," the spunky performer added. "It was something organic. It's nice to make something creative and have people like it. Somebody told me it was #3 or 4 on iTunes. iTunes! I beat the Jonas Brothers. I was like, 'What's going on?' Charts don't really compute with me. It's an interesting thing I'm learning. It's kinda nice to have the support."
M.I.A. told us that one of her big supporters has been the Louis Vuitton Don.
"Kanye e-mailed me back in, like, Christmas and told me he listens to 'Paper Planes' every day," she said. He recently hit her up with an early version of "Swagger Like Us."
"I thought it was really hot. He e-mailed the demo version to me. I think T.I. rewrote his verse. It sounded even better once it was done. Kanye just took one sentence and made a whole thing out of it. I'll probably end up doing something with Kanye one day. We have a lot of respect for each other."
M.I.A. also said she was interested in working with Jones' Byrd Gang. The pretty Brit also just started her label, N.E.E.T. (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The first artist is Baltimore rapper Rye Rye. If you want to hear more about M.I.A.'s label and her thoughts on retirement, come on back to MTV News later in the week. ..
