Lyric Connections

Throughout her musical career, and particularly since more attention has been brought to her music through the hit film Slumdog Millionaire, rap artist M.I.A. has generated both controversy and praise. As the child of a Tamil activist, M.I.A., has been accused of glorifying the Tamil Tigers and their cause. At the same time, she has been praised for bringing Tamil identity and culture to a mainstream audience that was previously deprived of such information and representation. And, her recent performance at the Grammy awards can be argued to have been attention getting and full of meaning on other levels. During this performance, in which she began by singing her song, “Paper Planes,” before sharing the stage with well-established male rap musicians Jay-Z, Kanye West and TI, M.I.A. made a statement as a female artist. This statement was given extra meaning as she was nine-months pregnant at the time of her performance, and made no attempt to hide or minimize this fact. Thus, M.I.A.’s performance at the Grammy’s conveyed messages regarding her singing ability and the acceptance of her music, her ethnic identity, the potential of female rap artists, and the compatibility of maternity and the rap world – which is often portrayed as a rough, male-dominated world where women are objectivized in negative, sexual tones.

Moving beyond M.I.A.’s personality and Grammy performance to an examination of her song, “Paper Planes,” one finds that it contains messages not otherwise discussed in traditional analysis of the song but still of startling importance. The exact lyrics to “Paper Planes” are as follows:

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 'till I'm clocking that game
Everyone's a winner we're making our fame
Bonafide hustler making my name

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

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bones
Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison for their system

Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bones
Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison for their system

No one on the corner has swagga like us
Hit me on my banner prepaid wireless
We pack and deliver like UPS trucks
Already going hard just pumping that gas

No one on the corner has swagga like us
Hit me on my banner prepaid wireless
We pack and deliver like UPS trucks
Already goin hard just pumpin' that gas

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

M.I.A.
Third world democracy
Yeah, I got more records than the K.G.B.
So, uh, no funny business
YOU ARE ALREADY ARE!

Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go
Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAA CHING!)
And take your money

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And a (KKKAAA CHING!)
And take your money

The generally accepted reading of these lyrics is that they are meant to compare the recording industry with the drug trade. This reading is certainly justifiable. However, a deeper reading of these lyrics is even more insightful. Taken as a whole, the lyrics speak to an overarching sense of citizenship in both legitimate and illegitimate legal orders. One sees the need to at least superficially comply with the legitimate legal order which is embodied in concepts of the state – through references to having visas, standard methods of travel in any society, the use of established international commercial and communication entities, and even the use of force. At the same time, one sees the existence of another legal order, embodied by an illegitimate legal system. This system exists under the surface of the legitimate legal system, through the production of fake visas and state-issued documents, drug use, gangs, the seemingly arbitrary decision as to who to kill and who to spare, and references to being part of an entity which descends from other illegitimate orders (pirates, children who cannot govern themselves, and, ultimately, drug culture).

These legal orders can be seen as existing in separate worlds and in tension with each other throughout the song. However, it is the points at which there is an intersection between these two worlds that the song makes its most powerful statement about each world and system. In the first and second verses, the legitimate legal order, embodied by visas and proper, state-generated documentation, is undermined and threatened by the existence of an illegitimate order that can produce these indicia of legality without state involvement – or, seemingly, detection. In the third and forth verses, these worlds come together in the specter of the narrator riding on a train, which could be either a concrete example or a metaphor, but in either instance involves the use of a legitimate, accepted entity in society to advance less than legitimate goals.

Verse nine contains perhaps the most overt link between the two systems through the reference to “third world democracy” directly. Certainly, this verse can be seen as a statement regarding the artist’s musical successes in the developing world. However, another reading of this verse is as an indictment of the concept of “third world democracy,” in which, the inference from references to having “more records than the KGB” and permitting “no funny business” implies, freedom in reality is not what it is claimed to be through the adoption of the moniker “democracy” for the applicable governmental and legal system. If linked to the ninth verse, the tenth verse is a further condemnation of the governmental structures of “third world democracy” in that it demonstrates the arbitrariness of justice in these legal and governmental systems. If read alone, the tenth verse is still a juxtaposition of the legitimate and illegitimate legal systems generally, because it conveys the message that decisions regarding punishment for unspecified acts are made by a particular person/entity in each system, and implies a sense of arbitrariness regarding the application of justice in both systems.

Thus, regardless of intent, this song speaks to more than the contrasts and similarities within the drug and recording industry worlds. Rather, it characterizes the juxtapositions and disjunctions between the legitimate and illegitimate legal ad governmental systems that occur generally and particularly in less developed systems of democratic government.

Sources
Paper Planes Lyrics are available at: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/mia/paper_planes.html .
Thomas Fuller, An International Star, M.I.A. Not So Popular at Home, IHT.Com, Feb. 11, 2009, available at http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/11/asia/mia.php .

Keywords: Sri Lanka, Tamil, M.I.A., democratic governments, legal systems.