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Hong Kong's biggest music and arts festival is bringing diversity and depth with its full line-up and schedule, which has now been released. Taking place from November 25-27 at Central Harbourfront Clockenflap is sure to offer you a unique experience.

This years new enormous site location will include three main live band stages, two electronic music stages, two theatre venues, two immersive entertainment spaces and two expansive grassy areas - you might even be able to sit on them Hong Kong!

Continue reading: Clockenflap 2016 Set To Be The Biggest Yet

Zayn Malik has come under fire from fans on Twitter for collaborating on a song with M.I.A. which some mistakenly thought contained a lyric referencing rape. Zayn features on the rapper’s latest track ‘Freedun’ and the outrage over the song’s lyrical content from some fans even prompted M.I.A. to publish the lyrics online.

Zayn Malik (pictured with Gigi Hadid) features on M.I.A.’s new song ‘Freedun'

In one of the song’s verses M.I.A. raps “I rate that button just to play this song,” however some misheard and thought she had said “rape that button.” Despite the line being rapped by M.I.A. and not Zayn, the former One Direction member faced backlash on Twitter for his involvement on the song.

Continue reading: Zayn Malik Under Fire From Fans After Misheard 'Rape' Lyric On New M.I.A. Track

Rapper Azealia Banks has said she feels ‘deeply misunderstood’ and has watched as her ‘ideas and insight get paraphrased and repackaged by everyone’. Banks made the comments on Instagram, as she is still banned from twitter following her attack on Zayn Malik in May, which started when she accused him of copying her video.

Azealia Banks says she feels stolen from.

“I feel really sad and uninspired. I’m having trouble mustering up enough smiles and enthusiasm to finish ‘Fantasea 2’,” she began. “I feel deeply misunderstood. I feel cheated, I feel stolen from.

Continue reading: Azealia Banks Says She Feels "Deeply Misunderstood And Stolen From"

Grammy award-winning rapper M.I.A. has designed a collection for Versus, Versace's lower-priced line. The news was originally reported when the rapper told a WWD reporter at the Balenciaga show in Paris, though the fashion house chose not to make an official announcement, until now.

Unsurprisingly, the collection is based on M.I.A's signature look of brightly patterned trousers, hoodies and loud sunglasses. Versace says the line will include "graphic prints with street energy" and a motif of "gold medallions [that] are reminiscent of the frenzy typical of the (market) stands."

Referring to herself in the third person, the musician said of her line, "The theme of counterfeits, of those that produce and sell them has always been part of the culture of M.I.A. When I was contacted by Versace, it seemed a great idea to invert the circle. Versace's designs have always been copied, now it's Versace that copies the copies, so those that copy must copy the copies. So this will continue."

Continue reading: Rapper M.I.A Designs Collection For Versace's Versus Line

M.I.A. won't go down quietly, as she fights tooth and nail against the NFL as the corporation continues to seek compensation from the acclaimed rapper/singer for giving the camera the middle finger and mouthing "I don't give a f*ck" during the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. The rapper claims she is being used as a scapegoat in the $1.5 million case and says that there were other things happening in the show that were just as, if not more provocative and offensive.

Maya claims that she is being used as a scapegoat

The 'Paper Planes' rapper took to YouTube to discuss the "completely ridiculous" claim for damages by the American football league, and claimed that during the show there were several cheerleaders on stage who were arguably being much more offensive and provocative. The English-Sri Lankan musician is being sued for $1.5 million for breach of contract, with the league complaining that her gesture had put in jeopardy the family-friendly marketability of the NFL brand, something that M.I.A. claims they needed no help with as her middle finger gesture doesn't come close to some of the scandals that emerge from the league.

Continue reading: M.I.A. Stands Her Ground In The Case Against Her Super Bowl Halftime Show Middle Finger Gesture

Last week reports surfaced that Mia had been entangled in a legal battle with the NFL over a raised middle finger. This week, the rapper/singer has a bone to pick with the organization too. MIA, real name Mathangi Arulpragasam posted a video, in which she explains and rejects the NFL claims against her, saying that she was just using her right to freedom of expression and “being punk rock.”

The performer has denied the NFL's accusations.

According to the artist, there are many other things in that performance that could have been considered offensive to the “family audience.” Most notably, she points out the backup dancers – according to her, cheerleadears from a local high school, all under 16 – thrusting their hips provocatively. M.I.A. claims that the NFL was simply using her as a scapegoat for the flack they’ve received over the entire performance.

Continue reading: "Completely Ridiculous" - M.I.A. Speaks Out Against NFL Accusations

M.I.A is refusing to bow down to the NFL who has taken legal action against the British born singer. The NFL is suing the singer after she showed her middle finger to the camera whilst performing at the Super Bowl last year. M.I.A joined Madonna on stage along with Nicki Minaj at the 2012 Super Bowl, when the incident occurred. 

M.I.A performing in Toronto.

M.I.A described the incident as "completely ridiculous" and "boring" as she has simply heard enough about it. She continues, in her video, to describe why she showed her middle finger to the cameras whilst performing at the NFL Super Bowl half time show last year. 

Continue reading: M.I.A Claims NFL's 'Sexual Exploitation' More Shocking Than Super Bowl Swearing

It has been well over a year since M.I.A. unceremoniously gave the camera the finger during her performance as part of Madonna's half-time show at Super Bowl XLVI and just about everyone who noticed the gesture soon forgot about it once the game got back underway. As The Hollywood Reporter revealed this week however, not everyone was quite so quick to forget. Namely, the bosses at the NFL themselves.

M.I.A. won't bow down to the NFL

As THR state, the NFL are demanding $1.5 million in damages and a public apology from the 'Paper Plane' hit-maker for extending her middle finger and seemingly mouthing "I don't give a sh*t" during her segment in Madonna's 'Give Me All Your Luvin'.' The league decided to take legal action against the English/Sri Lankan rapper/singer, born Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam, for supposedly breaching the terms of her contract and tarnishing the goodwill and reputation of the game, and after 18 months it seems as though the case hasn't gotten any further off the ground.

Continue reading: M.I.A. And The NFL Engaged In Not So Secret Legal Battle Over Middle Finger Gesture

The British recording artist M.I.A has never been the sort of person to back down from a fight but maybe this time she bit off more than she can chew as she heads into battle with the NFL.

Their dispute began on February 5th 2012, when 167 million people tuned in to watch the 46th Super Bowl match between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. The famed halftime show saw M.I.A perform 'Give Me All Your Luvin' alongside Madonna and Nicki Minaj but instead of the 38 year old singing the lyric 'sh*t', she stuck her middle finger up to the camera while mouthing "I don't give a sh*t".

Most people up until now probably forgot the incident ever happened and most likely didn't care too much for it in the first place. The NFL didn't forget because, according to The Hollywood Reporter, for the past 18 months the NFL have been pursuing the singer for a public apology and a whopping $1.5 million fine.

Continue reading: M.I.A Battles NFL Over 2012 Super Bowl Middle Finger Incident

Mia’s brand new track Bring the Noize, which she teased during an eight minute preview earlier in the year, is now not only out, but also has a video to go with it. And what a video it is. To be fair, Bring the Noize should probably come with a trigger warning for photosensitive epilepsy, but other than that the video seems fairly harmless. In it, the rapper sports a brand new, neon pink hairdo and attends a party at what looks like an abandoned warehouse – favorite meeting place for cool kids of all generations. Naturally, the video features some tricked out cars, in classic MIA fashion and, well, lots of people standing around looking unimpressed.

The track itself was produced by Switch and Surkin, NME reports, and will be featured on MIA’s upcoming record, Matangi. Apparently the album’s been through a number of incarnations, with the rapper recentl sharing the comment: "It's not easy, it's not easy. I keep finishing it and handing it in, finishing it and handing it in."

Continue reading: Video For MIA's 'Bring The Noize' Has Finally Been Unveiled

Singer/rapper M.I.A. has announced that she plans on releasing a brand new track next week, with the Brit/Sri Lankan artist indicating on her website and Twitter page that she plans on bringing out the new release this coming Monday (June 17). The track, called 'Bring the Noize,' will air Monday night between 7 and 9 p.m. GMT on DJ Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 programme.

M.I.A. released a looped video on her website on Thursday (June 13) this week to promote the song - not giving too much away as to what fans can expect to hear from the new production, only offering a brief listen of her hectically rapping over a tribal beat, accompanied by a seizure-inducing looped-video. Upon entering the site, the time and place of the song's full debut is made available. Later that day, she then posted the ambiguous Tweet: "M.I.A. / BRING THE NOIZE," all but confirming the name of her new track.

On Friday (June 14), M.I.A. upped the ante once again, this time posting a Vine video on to her site that shows a clip of the video for the single. Filming the screen of her laptop, the video is an all-gold visual treat featuring no further samples from the song, with only a faint buzzing heard in the background of the video.

Continue reading: M.I.A. Will Unveil A New Song Next Week; 'Bring The Noize'

"The NME Awards is the highlight of the music calendar and the most Rock'n'roll party of the year," says NME editor Mike Williams. He's not wrong, and this year's nominations, which have just been released, prove to make this year's party even better.

The bands to be most proud of their nominations this year are new-comers Haim and Tame Impala, both of which have never been nominated in the awards before. Haim's nominations are for 'Best New Band', 'Best Track', 'Best Music Video' and 'Best Twitter' for Alana Haim (@babyhaim). We're not entirely sure what makes a good Twitter, but we're sure she deserves it, mostly because she posted a photo of her kissing a trout. Tame Impala's nominations are for 'Best International Band', 'Best Album', 'Best Track' and 'Best Music Video'. Also with four nominations each are veterans The Rolling Stones, and controversial act, M.I.A. 

This year's heroes and villains are an interesting bunch with Harry Styles and David Cameron undoubtedly leading the troupe for the villains, while Frank Ocean, Barack Obama and Pussy Riot are all up for the Hero award. 

Continue reading: NME Award Nominations Announced: HAIM And Tame Impala Four Nominations Each

So it is Beyonce's turn to lead out the fun and games at the famous Super Bowl half-time show. Quite frankly it's been a long time coming; one of the premiere pop stars of the past decade and more, the former Destiny's Child's star power has been calling out for her to get the spot at some point. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves and assume that just because she is who she is, she's going to deliver a stunning fifteen minutes. Plenty of big names have been known to fall; here are some of, what we reckon to be the worst half-time shows in Super Bowl history.

Madonna, M.I.A, Nicki Minaj, 2012

The fact that everyone was talking about M.I.A having the audacity to stick her finger up at television cameras tells you just how boring this half-time show actually was. A creaking Madonna did what she's ended up doing on most of her shows this year and sent her crowd into a stupor, with garish and brash visuals and costume not making up for an utter formulaic performance from the (former?) Queen of Pop. She should be thanking M.I.A for giving us a reason to remember it to be honest.

Continue reading: Five Of The Worst: Beyonce For Super Bowl 2013; She'll Surely Be Better Than This Lot?

Julian Assange received an unlikely visitor in the form of Lady GaGa whilst holed up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, as he attempts to avoid extradition to Sweden, reports The Telegraph.

No one really knows what the pair discussed, but Gaga wasn’t secretive about her visit; she posted a nice picture of her and the controversial Wikileaks founder on her website. Assange probably expects government officials, extradition officers and the odd anarchic admirer to permeate his political safe zone, so the visit of a global pop star must have come as a surprise. M.I.A, who is an active political voice as well as being a popular rapper, tweeted a message to Lady Gaga saying: “If ur at harrods today, come visit Assange at the Ecuador embassy across the st. im there. Ill bring TEA and CAKE (sic).” An embassy spokeswoman confirmed Lady Gaga had visited but said she did not know whether M.I.A. had been there. She said: “People can visit him (Assange) but usually he has his own team set up the appointments.” Devotees of the whistle-blower, who had previously entered in legally binding support of his, are now being forced to come up with they cash they once promised, as Assange has skipped bail with a view to asylum.

Gaga was in London promoting the release of her new perfume when she popped in on Assange. She didn’t have a great time of it though, turning up an hour late and getting booed by the Harrods crowds for her poor timekeeping skills.