M.I.A. - Paper Planes Analysis - XL Recordings

M.I.A. Paper Planes Analysis

Context:
In this song, M.I.A. plays up the sterotype of a menacing illegal immigrant, forging documents and threatening violence. It was inspired by her efforts to enter America on a Visa (she is a British citizen of Sri Lankan descent), which resulted in a months-long bureaucratic morass, something she attributed to her dark skin and exotic real name: Mathangi Arulpragasam.

Analysis:
M.I.A. came up with the lyrics all at once one morning. She was living in New York at the time, whcih could be a rough area. M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" is a brilliant pop song, an irresistibly catchy three-minute head-bopped that became almost ubiquitous on the radio airwaves in late 2008. But behind the song's airy meoldy, banging bassline, and finger-snapping beat lurks a grim and even disturbing lyrical message.
This is a song that features verses in which M.I.A. raps unapologetically about evading border police, manufacturing fake visas, selling crack, and delivering "lethal poison to the system." Even more unsettling, this is a song that features a choir of aorable children singing that all they want to do is shoot you and take your money. the whole bit punctuated by the sounds of echoing gunshots and kachinging cash registers.
The song has generated more than its fair share of controversy. both MTV and the David Letterman show censored the gunshots while tohers have called for the entire song to be labelled with an "explicit" lbael and banished from the airwaves. M.I,A insists, however, that she has been misunderstood, that the song was not itnended to support antisocial behaviour but instead to satirize widespread negative stereotypes about immigrants.

Deeper Analysis:

"I fly like paper, get high like planes. If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name" - In this case 'Paper Planes' means actual visas. The song plays with many common stereotypes that surround many immigrants, and adresses the situations many deal with on a regular daily basis. The music video even shows her rapping to be in what looks like an immirant community.

M.I.A. composed this song with the DJ/producer Diplo, who was little knwon at the time. 'Paper Planes' was the first hit song he worked on. Musically the song is built on a sample of the 1982 Clash song "Straight To Hell", which also deals with immigration and xenophobia. The sample was Diplo's idea. The most recognisable part of the song is the chorus: "All i wanna do is (Gunshots...) And a (Gun load...) (Cashier till opening) And take your money." In an interview with The Daily Beast she said "If you're an immigrant you left somewhere and msot of the time you feld a war. Gun sounds are a part of our culture as an everyday thing. If you've been exposed to gunfights and violence and bombs and war then i can use those sounds backing my thoughts, ya know?"