I am not surprised that most things fly well over most Getbigger`s heads.
"Paper Planes" was written and produced by M.I.A. and Diplo with additional production by Switch. It was recorded at the artist's home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and in London where it includes kids from Brixton singing on the chorus; the song was one of the last written for Kala, recorded soon after she regained entry to the U.S..[3][4][5] The track stems slightly from M.I.A.'s family history and from M.I.A.'s own frustration at American government visits to her official website following the release of her debut album Arular in 2005, a refusal to grant her a work visa to record her second album in the US in 2006 despite several previous travels to the country before and after her debut album's release, coupled with her brief presence on the US Homeland Security Risk List in 2006 due to her politically charged lyrics.[6] M.I.A. has openly discussed the origin of the song, saying "I was thinking about living [in Bed-Stuy], waking up every morning—it’s such an African neighborhood. I was going to get patties at my local and just thinking that really the worst thing that anyone can say [to someone these days] is some shit like: ”What I wanna do is come and get your money.” People don’t really feel like immigrants or refugees contribute to culture in any way. That they’re just leeches that suck from whatever. So in the song I say "All I wanna do is [sound of gun shooting and reloading, cash register opening] and take your money." I did it in sound effects. It’s up to you how you want to interpret. America is so obsessed with money, I’m sure they’ll get it."[5]
She added that she felt that listeners could interpret the gunshots and cash register ringing in the song's chorus as coming from any gun-toter, telling an interviewer "You can either apply it on a street level and go, oh, you’re talking about somebody robbing you and saying I’m going to take your money. But, really, it could be a much bigger idea: someone’s selling you guns and making money. Selling weapons and the companies that manufacture guns — that’s probably the biggest moneymaker in the world."[4] Acknowledging that her heavily politicized lyrics in all of her compositions were "a bit of a jump for people", she told Carolyn E. Davis of MTV in April 2005 that not talking about her experiences would disqualify her as an artist, noting that "the other point I was making referencing the violence I had seen in Sri Lanka is, if we're going to invest so much money in creating wars around the world, that's quite a given thing. If you've seen somebody get shot and if you've seen a bomb go off, then you've given me total access to talk about it — because you've made that a part of my life. I didn't ask for nobody to bomb my school, but if they did, I would have the right to talk about it. And if people are uncomfortable, then they should think twice before they go off and hit random buildings."[8] M.I.A has expressed surprise at the song's wide commercial success, telling Rolling Stone in October 2008, "I always took pride in being a little underground — it really is a very unlikely record to cross over."[9]
