“Paper Planes” by M.I.A.

"Paper Planes" came from Kala, M.I.A.'s second album, in 2007 and went out as its third single in February 2008, and it's the sneakiest protest song of its day. She wrote and produced it with Diplo, with Switch adding production and mixing, and they built it on a sample of the Clash's "Straight to Hell", which puts all four Clash members in the writing credits.

It moves at a lazy, loping pace, slower and less clubby than the rest of Kala, with African folk in its bones and gunshot sound effects that land like punchlines. Her own trouble getting a visa to work in America sparked it, and the song mocks the way Americans see immigrants from poorer countries. Slumdog Millionaire put it on the big screen, MTV censored its gunshots and cannabis reference, and it climbed to number four on the Hot 100, her biggest hit, before earning a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.