“Born Free” video

M.I.A. + “Born Free” = NSFW

Friday, April 30th, 2010 | musiX | 2 Comments

M.I.A.’s new video for “Born Free” is causing all sorts of commotion, from its message to its getting pulled (temporarily) from YouTube. The video’s allusion to genocidal atrocities throughout history is about as subtle as the collective brains of Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

And the song is no “Paper Planes,” sounding more like Suicide meets Prodigy (probably because of the generous sample from the former’s song “Ghost Rider”)—not sure how it would sound on its own, but as the backdrop to this nine-minute, Rated R short (language, fat people grinding, and fair-skinned, red-headed boys being herded and shot) “Born Free” hits the mark. Expect to hear the track on M.I.A.’s as-yet-untitled new record out June 29.

Probably not the most uplifting video for a Friday afternoon, but if you take M.I.A., NSFW, TGIF, and TDoL you can make words like “win” and “goals” and “sailing,” which are very positive.