M.I.A. Paper Planes

M.I.A., Paper Planes -  FREE INDIVIDUAL POST: A song/video on the ‘SPACES & EXCHANGES’ notion

Paper Planes is a 2008 song, written and produced by English and Sri Lankan singer M.I.A and Diplo for the M.I.A's album Kala. The song's meaning is difficult to understand, at first sight, personally, I had to look up the lyrics to understand the actual message of the song. I chose this song to illustrate the notion of Spaces and Exchanges because it is about immigrants coming into Europe and plays with the stereotypes many Europeans may have of foreigners. Also, the fact that the document is a politically committed song is a way to exchange ideas. While the notion can be studied looking at examples of PHYSICAL spaces and exchanges, it is also important to see METAPHORICALLY.  

The lyrics summarize Kala's central theme, satirize American perceptions of visa-seeking foreigners and immigrants from Third World nations. Billboard commented that the content is about class conflict, in which M.I.A. plays the role of a "revolutionary". M.I.A. explained that the "paper planes" in the title and opening lines—"I fly like paper, get high like planes / If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name / If you come around here I make 'em all day"—are counterfeit visas made by the immigrants. The Stranger described the chorus's sound effects as "rock'n'roll swindle, anti-colonial cash register liberation", which complements the song's meaning. The lyrics "No one on the corner had swagger like us / Hit me on the burner prepaid wireless" encapsulate the restrained living conditions of immigrants struggling with monthly mobile phone bills. At the bridge, M.I.A. jokingly plays with her alleged connection to the Tamil militants and the visa problems stemming from it, "Some I murder, some (a some) I let go". The song plays with the image some politicians portray immigrants. That they are violent, poor, uneducated and steal your money and jobs. M.I.A being originally from a third world country surely has faced some of these racist and prejudicial comments. 

In my opinion, from the lyrics o the song itself, it was released before it's time. Today more than ever these themes are still present and some people face them every day. It is important to talk and use your art as a form of counter-power. 

Here are the lyrics of the song:

I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait

I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait

Sometimes I think sitting on trains
Every stop I get to I'm clicking my gun
Everyone's a winner we're making that fame
Bonafide hustler making my name

Sometimes I think sitting on trains
Every stop I get to I'm clocking that game
Everyone's a winner now we're making that fame
Bonafide hustler making my name

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

Man I'm rollin' through the city, old school on them big boys
12 inch woofers in the trunk making big noise
Got the big toys (toys), dont make me have to flash
Let a hundred rounds go, you do a hundred yard dash
Back up in the hood where the rules dont shift
And the gangstas talk trills, sip purp and burn piff
You can call 5-0 and 5-0 might come
But by the time that they arrive all that dirt had been done
Now one things for certain, and two things for sure
Being poor is a disease, gotta hustle up a cure
Start with your head homie then use your hands
If you try it in reverse, you dont even have a chance
We worldwide worried with the hunger and the thirst
From the third world countries to the second and the first
It sounds like a verse but it's more like a plan
Get your Robin Hood on, put some pressure on the man, tell it

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

I wake up in the morning with my b*tch in the bed
She don't like the police and she sure hate the feds
I love my girl 'cause she gives me what I want
She ride in the trunk or either ride in the front
She looks like 22 but she really 45
Some reason she done made a whole lotta n*ggas cry
So bad that she make 'em all pull they money out
Take it out they pockets and they put it in my pouch
Ouch! gotta hurt the way that girl do ya
She always wanna what take, take, take the moolah
Gimmie them pesos the cash and the credit card
Might be a broad but the lil' b*tch hit ya hard
You the police and we is the robbers
You need more than them helicopters to stop us
Excuse me, let me introduce my lady
Her name is Beretta and she mothaf*ckin crazy

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money

All I wanna do is
And
And take your money