Paper Planes - Music Video

Music Video

The music video for the song was shot in December 2007 in one day in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. It was directed by Bernard Gourley. The video is M.I.A.'s first filmed in the United States. Initially planned to be shot in a factory on the border of Ecuador, the filming location was changed to accommodate M.I.A.'s time constraints due to touring commitments in the United States. The video was filmed during one day in the city, which she had free on the American leg of her KALA Tour after 4 months of concerts. It was made available on MTV's website on December 15, 2007. The video for "Paper Planes" was uploaded on M.I.A.'s personal "worldtown" YouTube account on December 16, 2007, eventually gaining 43,500,000 views. The video was to have premiered on Total Request Live. The video was uploaded onto M.I.A.'s official YouTube page (via VEVO) on June 16, 2009, amassing 20,000,000 views. "Paper Planes" video debuted on 17 December 2007 on video chart programs where it proved successful. It peaked at number 1 on MuchOnDemand's Daily Ten and number 1 on Total Request Live. It appeared at Number 56 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2008 countdown.

The video begins with several paper planes fly over New York City shot in black and white. In multiple colour scenes that follow, M.I.A. appears dancing and singing in the stairwell of the Nostrand Avenue New York City Subway station in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, and as an immigrant who sells sandwiches from a van bearing a Jolly Roger to several other New Yorkers. Food is exchanged at the stalls for money and various other items. Nigerian rapper Afrikan Boy joins M.I.A. in serving street food on New York City's streets in exchange for buyer's chains, watches, and cash – among those stopping by the cart are Mike D and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, where Mike D.'s Rolex is exchanged for food. M.I.A. can be seen sitting in front of rugs and suitcases at a stall singing to the camera, and counting dollar notes from her takings in the van. A cash till can be seen empty, followed by scenes where the till fills up with money. During the chorus, at the sound of the gunshots, quick shots of street and restaurant signs, people and phone discount signs appear, followed by scenes of M.I.A. selling more sandwiches and opening the till to store more money. During the second verse, the singer can be seen happily shopping for condiments at a local shop, before she is depicted in more scenes of her singing with Afrikan Boy. New Yorkers are filmed and shown walking along streets throughout the video. M.I.A. is seen dancing and walking with friends, including Afrikan Boy and Rye Rye, wearing clothes from her fashion line "Okley Run" and HowManyHowMany T-shirts from her "Boyz" video. During the second chorus, scenes of Blaxploitation film DVDs on a shelf and the rapper driving the van are shown. M.I.A. can be seen wearing a Metallica Ride the Lightning shirt in later parts of the music video. At the end of the video, the scenes turn black and white, with the van driving off on a street, followed by several paper planes in pursuit.