Notable cover versions include ones by Street Sweeper Social Club, the Clientele, Lowkey, Dizzee Rascal, Built to Spill and Rihanna.

[3] The album, inspired by her father Arul Pragasam's involvement in the Tamil independence movement in Sri Lanka, heavily incorporates themes of conflict and revolution into dance songs.

[8][13] Diplo came up with the idea of sampling English rock band the Clash's 1982 song "Straight to Hell" and produced the instrumental track with assistance from Switch.

[12] She drew inspiration for the lyrics from her own troubles gaining a work permit to the US, complaining that the issue was probably "them thinking that I might to [sic] fly a plane into the Trade Center".

[12] She told The Daily Beast that the gunshots embodied political refugees' experiences in war-torn areas, which she described as "a part of our culture as an everyday thing".

[23] The musical composition incorporates verse-chorus form, with a bridge preceding the fourth and final chorus, where a distorted guitar riff provides accompaniment to the piece playing out the coda.

[11]: 2  The Stranger described the chorus's sound effects as "rock'n'roll swindle, anti-colonial cash register liberation", which complements the song's meaning.

[30] The lyrics "No one on the corner had swagger like us / Hit me on the burner prepaid wireless" encapsulate the restrained living conditions of immigrants struggling with monthly mobile phone bills.

The Stranger's Eric Grandy selected the song as Kala's highlight, calling it the album's "most exciting synthesis of the political and the pop, a playful dig into the real, dirty business of rump shaking".

[25] Andy Kellman of AllMusic,[43] Michael Hubbard of musicOMH,[32] Jon Pareles of Blender[44] and Emma Warren of The Observer named it a standout on the well-received Kala.

[27] Writing for Clash, Colm Larkin characterised "Paper Planes" as a "downtempo masterpiece that's like a torch song for the world's disaffected and poor" and said of M.I.A.

[49] Karim Maksoud from DIY praised the song's theme of "coarse fatalism, superficiality and backstabbing acerbity of the modern urban life" and dubbed the track a "tuneful amalgam of influences and exotic dynamic".

[10] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times called "Paper Planes" the epitome of the album that conveys multiple layers of meaning.

singing and dancing along streets in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood, selling food from a van to locals, and dealing valuables such as chains, watches and cash.

's food vending partner, and Mike D & Ad-Rock from the hip hop group Beastie Boys make a cameo appearance as their buyers.

The music video premiered on MTV's website on 15 December 2007 and received its first broadcast on the network's series Total Request Live (TRL) the following day.

[93][94][95][96] Billboard placed the "Paper Planes" / "Swagga Like Us" medley at number 38 on its list of the 100 Greatest Award Show Performances of All Time in 2017, saying it had, "About as much cool on one stage as the Grammys has ever assembled".

[105] After being featured in the popular 2008 films Pineapple Express and Slumdog Millionaire, it received increasing attention in the country, reaching a peak at the number four on the Billboard Hot 100 on 27 September 2008, becoming M.I.A.

[110] In June 2010, the single was awarded a triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of three million units.

[123] Despite failing to chart in New Zealand, the track was certified 4× Platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for domestic sales exceeding 120,000 copies.

[8][11][131][132][133] Journalist Touré, writing for The Daily Beast, noted that the atrocities were not widely known because of the Sri Lankan government's regulatory efforts to prevent the international press from spreading the news.

of being a terrorist instead of publicising her efforts to bring aid to war-torn regions where citizens, especially children, lacked access to fundamental healthcare and utilities.

[139] M.I.A., commenting on the situation in Sri Lanka to GQ in 2010, said, "Every single Tamil person who's alive today, who's seen how the world does nothing, has to find a way to exist that isn't harboring bitterness and hate and revenge".

[21] Eric R. Danton of the Hartford Courant noted that the single's success was significant because it defied the manufactured pop music scene by big-name corporations and offered "something to say".

's US crossover success "presents an example of how social and cultural hierarchies under threat are negotiated by making contestations in a more implicit way" by challenging conservative American viewpoints on feminism and post-racial society.

[162] American indie rock band Built to Spill covered "Paper Planes" at their live concert in Italy in October 2008.

[165][166] English rapper Lowkey featured "Paper Planes" in his 2010 live performances, where he altered the original lyric to "All MPs wanna do is take your money", voicing opposition to the nation's political scene.

[170] 50 Cent, State Property members Young Chris and Freeway, and Jim Jones released their respective unofficial remixes of the song.

[168] "Paper Planes" was used in the theatrical trailer for the 2008 stoner comedy Pineapple Express, directed by David Gordon Green, and starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

[173] "Paper Planes" and the DFA remix appear on the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's drama Slumdog Millionaire, released in 2008 after Pineapple Express.