M.I.A., officially named Mathangi Arulpragasam, was born in 1975 in London, England to a Sri Lankan family. She began working in the arts as a graphic artist and filmmaker before exploring the world of music. Her first song came out in 2003 under the title, “Galang”. From then on, she began to release more chart-topping music. She enjoyed producing fun and popular music that also served a purpose and held a message.
Paper Planes came out in 2007 but reached number one on Billboard charts in the summer of 2008. It is a fairly repetitive song with an upbeat sample from Clash’s “Highway to Hell”, but portrays a rather dark narrative. This song confronts stereotypes of immigrants in America with a satirical impersonation of many different attributes. The song makes the listener think about how they think about immigrants are treated, perceived, and sometimes forced into an undesired lifestyle as opposed to being allowed to pursue their “American Dream”. The success of the message, however, was met with misinterpretation and criticism. A lot of people disagreed with her bold use of gunshots in the chorus and believed some of the topics covered were too graphic, but that is the point of the song. To overplay and dramatize the stereotypes in order to confront the bleak reality of immigrant relations within America.
Written By Ryan Binford
Politics Through Rhythm 