M.I.A. denies naming infant son "Ickitt"

Los Angeles, March 7: British female rapper M.I.A. has shot down rumors that she has named her new-born baby boy Ickitt.

Several media reports were doing the rounds over the Internet claiming that the singer, whose real name is Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam, has named her three-week-old son Ickitt.

But, the 31-year-old rapper abruptly rebuffed all those rumors on her MySpace Celebrity Blog in a humorous message.

Responding to the rumors on Friday, the "Paper Planes" songstress wrote on her MySpace blog: “My baby is not called Ickitt, Pickit or Lickit, thank you very much to all the Hollywood press.”

She further wrote: “He’s a baby, he don’t need press!”

News of the baby’s name was revealed by the magazine Latina. The magazine reported on its Website Friday that M.I.A. had named her baby Ickitt, and the false news quickly spread.

But M.I.A. said that she has not revealed the baby’s name to anyone because she did not think it was newsworthy information. "I didn't release the baby name because I didn't think it was news!!!!”

The Grammy- and Oscar-nominated female rapper delivered the baby boy on February 11, three days after she performed at this year’s Grammy Awards show. She had performed the song “Swagga Like Us” at the Grammys with her swollen belly.

Merely hours later performing alongside Kanye West, Jay-Z, T.I. and Lil Wayne on the stage, the British-born Sri Lankan singer went into labor.

The newly born baby boy is the first child for M.I.A. and her fiancé, musician Benjamin Bronfman.

Meanwhile, M.I.A. has written on her MySpace blog that she will be back with something newsworthy soon. “Till then go pick on Apple, Satchel and Moon Unit,” she suggested before ending with "Lots of love stickit!!"

Born on 17 July 1977, M.I.A. is the British songwriter, vocalist and artist who first came to prominence in early 2004 through file-sharing of her dancehall hits "Galang" and "Sunshowers" on the Internet.

She earned a nomination for the Mercury Prize in 2005 with debut album, Arular.

M.I.A. is engaged to indie-rocker Benjamin Brewer, the son of Warner Music Group chairman and CEO, Edgar Bronfman. Jr. M.I.A made public her engagement to Brewer, the singer and guitarist for the New York alt-rock band The Exit, during her concert at the Edmonton Event Centre on May 27, 2008.

The Brit singer was nominated for her top-running song “O… Saya” from Oscar frontrunner “Slumdog Millionaire” with A.R. Rahman.