M.I.A. Says Latest Video Was Banned For Cultural Appropriation

M.I.A. is no stranger to controversy and on Monday, she posted that she's faced backlash while working on a follow-up project to her 2013 album, "Matangi." "I wanna talk about cultural appropriation!" she tweeted on Monday. "I've been told I can't put out a video because it's shot in Africa."

According to M.I.A., the video was shot in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa and stars a dancer she spent two years tracking down.

The video is 1 take shot of a dancer ! The best in the wide world! And he wasn't ever gonna make "_____got talent"

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) May 18, 2015

If the music industry allows an African artist to come through this year on intnl level, I would gladly give him this video for free.

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) May 18, 2015

Whether or not the video propagates cultural appropriation is a total mystery, considering we haven't seen it, nor are there plans for others to see it, but M.I.A. was called out for cultural appropriation after releasing "Bad Girls" back in 2013. Critics accused it of fueling Arab stereotypes.

Now M.I.A. is retweeting her fans and critics, making her Twitter feed a stream of messages about cultural appropriation (versus celebration) in music. One fan wrote, "As long as the dancer isn't used as a prop to enhance ur image i.e the Indian girls in major lazer vid."