In the ten years since she parted ways with Roc Nation, rapper M.I.A. has had plenty to say about her time working with Jay-Z. Now, she’s alleging that in one of their first meetings, he made questionable comments about her appearance.
On Friday, while doing an IG Live, the artist — real name Mathangi Arulpragasam — revealed that the “Hard Knock Life” rapper allegedly suggested she change her looks.
“When I met JAY-Z and I signed to Roc Nation, the first thing he told me to do is to get plastic surgery,” she said.
She went on to explain that she’s always been comfortable with herself, so rumors about her being “insecure” aren’t true.. However, she did add some unconfirmed suspicions about the looks of the women in Jay-Z’s life.
“I’m not insecure because I would have got plastic surgery,” she continued. “So their argument of ‘Maya’s f**king insecure, that’s why she needs to f**king massage her ego,’ fails. It fails because you turn around and ask … What women do you know who hasn’t had plastic surgery around [Jay-Z]? All of them have. I’m the only one who didn’t, which already proves the fact it’s not insecurity.”
Her claims sparked a conversation on social media, with many users noting how absolutely amazing she looks at 50. Seriously, it’s like she hasn’t aged at all. But once they got past her outstanding beauty, a few people noted how this isn’t a new phenomenon in the music business.
On an Instagram clip of her comments, one person pointed out that sadly, this is not a surprise, writing, “Lots of record labels suggest female artist get plastic surgery. Not sure why anyone would be surprised by this.”
Someone else acknowledged the music industry’s track record of prioritizing an artist’s appearance, but did wonder about the sequence of events, replying, “I do not want to discredit her perspective of events of the past. But it IS unlikely that “get plastic surgery” was the first thing that she was told to do. That said, it is not far-fetched to believe that she was encouraged by her handlers to follow the plastic surgery trend if she wanted to make it to the top of the game!”
Another user found the situation insulting, writing on X, “Saying that to a woman right after she signed to you as an artist is so degrading.”
As previously reported by The Root, this isn’t M.I.A.’s first time calling out the music mogul. Back in February, the “Paper Planes” rapper went on a social media rant where she accused Roc Nation, her management company at the time, of not assisting her with the custody battle for her son.
It’s unclear what M.I.A. is trying to accomplish with her online rants, but it would be nice if she were in the headlines for new music and not for controversy and past beefs.