M.I.A. embarrassed herself on first meeting with The Roots

British rapper M.I.A. was forced to relive the shame of her first meeting with The Roots on U.S. TV on Thursday (07Nov13), after appearing on the talk show which features the hip-hop group as the house band. The Paper Planes hitmaker was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and she admitted that she was a little shy sitting opposite The Roots during her interview, because she had embarrassed herself beyond belief a few years ago, when she tried to introduce herself to drummer Questlove and his band at a club in Japan.
Host Jimmy Fallon asked her to recall the story on air, but M.I.A. confessed, “Actually it’s quite embarrassing looking at them now”, prompting The Roots to offer to turn their backs to her so she wouldn’t feel so ashamed.
Taking them up on their offer, she then explained, “I was in Japan, so first, you have to understand Japan. They don’t understand what I say in my songs so it’s purely based on cool… They just like the beat and the fashion and how cool you are.
“So I walked into this really cool club and was trying to be really cool. I saw them (The Roots), and they were basically sat in a line at the back and I was trying to make my way over to say hi, but it was like… walking through, smoking club… and boof! Straight against a glass wall. In front of Japanese fans as well.”
Turning back around to face the guest, Questlove came to her defence and chipped in, “That was the coolest fall of all time! It was too pristine, like the glass, you couldn’t see it.”
M.I.A. and The Roots later teamed up to perform Come Walk With Me from her new album Matangi. The performance marked only the second time the rapper has performed with a live band. She previously appeared on Britain’s Later with Jools Holland show with ska stars The Specials to sing It Takes a Muscle in 2010.