Jimmy by MIA

This is a song by MIA, a British/Sri-Lankan hip-hop artist. You all probably know her song Paper Planes from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. MIA is a darling among music critics, and is fast gaining a wide global audience as well. I've picked this track from her great album, Kala. I think Kala is really "global" in sound, texture and lyrics, and Jimmy is a good example of how MIA builds her music from a globally-aware perspective. Below, I've posted some questions about this song that I think tie in nicely to the kinds of issues that have concerned us throughout the semester.

• Do the lyrics of this song tell a story? What international events/controversies does it reference? Has MIA offered an explanation of what the lyrics mean?
• How does technology figure in the lyrics? Are there any visual referents in the video clip that work with the theme of technology in the song?
• the music in "Jimmy" is an homage to (and samples large sections of) a song within a certain global cinematic tradition. What is it? (Clue: look at youtube for alternative versions of this song.)
• How does the video clip reference this tradition? Does MIA's clip seek to distance itself from this tradition, or merely "quote it"? Or perhaps she is doing something else entirely with it? In other words, how do we read the visual language of MIA's clip when put in relation to the other version of the "Jimmy" song?
• Finally, if you have no idea why I'm posting this, then go to the homework assignment on our wiki front page.