When the story was first published the star was so angry that she released the journalist Lynne Hirschberg’s phone number.

Of that decision the Sri-Lankan born artist admitted to us “you know what? I might have been a bit impulsive.”

But M.I.A first said she was annoyed that the article did not acknowledge her past criticisms of the newspaper’s Sri Lanka coverage. They named the island their number one ‘place to go in 2010’ soon after the civil war in the country ended.

Asked what upset her she explained: “You know for me it was about the fact that I said ‘f*ck the New York Times’ quite a few times and it was written about and then in the article it was ignored, when that was what was interesting.

“So why would they put me on the cover of the New York Times? That question was really interesting to me, she (Hirschberg) didn’t really explore it she just took a cheap shot.”

The singer/rapper- who releases her third album /\/\/\Y/\ next month- put out recordings of the interview and a diss track called I’m A Singer when the article first surfaced. Speaking exclusively to MTV News she continued:

“They (the paper) were like ‘we are going to hug you and give you a pat on the back’ and then at the same time stab me in the back… to come off with an article that was a bit lazy and neither here nor there… it was weak, it was just lazy journalism.

“You could Wikipedia all those debates about me and it didn’t need to be discussed in an 8 page, you know, Memorial Day front page story…. And I think honestly my fans found it really boring.”

When questioned about how she deals with adverse media coverage M.I.A explained why she uses the internet to hit back. She said:

“For the first time you have the tools to fight back… Imagine if Amy Winehouse and Lindsay Lohan and all these people were able to fight back using the internet, because you can.

“The New York Times was going to try and discredit my words and my experiences. I think… you know what? I might have been a bit impulsive, but I think what we have found a new way to deal with news.”

Earlier this week M.I.A leaked a third track from her new album on her own site. Steppin' Up is likely to be the second single released from /\/\/\YA.