M.I.A. On Her Childhood, Move To Brentwood

M.I.A., born to the name Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, opens up to GQ about her extraordinary life. "I think this is the happiest I've been for a long time," says the 34-year-old mother of one. The Grammy and Academy Award-nominated artist opens up about her troubled childhood in Sri Lanka, her move to California, and her 1-year-old son Ikhyd.

On 1-year-old son Ikhyd: "Today he climbed out of the pen, had to take the door kind of off the hinges and move it aside to get around. And that's amazing, that he's figured it out already—and that he's strong enough to do that."

On moving to Brentwood, not New York City: "I wanted an environment where I could have a lot of friends and family come and stay. That was the important part for me. And in New York I wouldn't have been able to afford someplace where I could have, like, all my friends come and crash out and where I could still have a baby."

On the war-torn Sri Lankan ghetto of her childhood: "I lived on a street, a dead-end street. There were like seven or eight houses, and then you turn the corner and there was another seven, eight houses. But my whole family lived on the street. So it was amazing. I grew up with about a hundred of my cousins, playing hide-and-seek all over the village and the temples."

M.I.A.'s third album, /\/\ /\ Y /\, will be released July 13.

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