Open Mic Music Call

On New Year's Eve this past Tuesday, M.I.A. abruptly announced via Twitter her departure from the management roster of Roc Nation, which she signed with in May, 2012. At the time of her signing her album "Matangi" was scheduled for an autumn release on Interscope, but ended up not being available until November of 2013 when it debuted atop the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart.

A request to Roc Nation for comment wasn't returned at press time.

Early last year, the director of a documentary film on the artist, Steve Loveridge, kicked off a public spat between himself, M.I.A. and Roc Nation after posting a teaser of the work to his Tumblr account, which Roc Nation requested be taken down. Roc Nation emailed Loveridge at the time, saying the move "screws with everything we've been working on setting up [M.I.A.'s newest record] 'Matangi.'" Loveridge responded that he "really couldn't give a flying ****," before exiting the project. Shortly after, M.I.A. tweeted, indicating a marked rift between herself and her label reps and management, saying: "im gonna need @kickstarter and my fans to help make this exist , ive been black listed through normal channels !!!!!!!" 

As M.I.A, born Mathangi Arulpragasam, told Billboard this past November: "In order to lose and find yourself as an artist, you have to abandon your team."