The Meaning Behind M.I.A.‘s Powerful New “Born Free” Video

As Americans we have the luck of not having to deal with much strife and instability. We do not need to worry about walking into a coffee shop only to have it explode a few seconds after ordering.
MIA (remember the pregnant chick performing Swagger Like Us? Yea…that’s her) released a new video to her new single, “Born Free”. Judging by the various comments, the song was seen as controlled noise; I beg to differ. Tantalizing the ear with hard drum riffs and MIA’s screaming voice, it gives off a dystopian death camp futuristic type of feel. Prior to watching the video, I could only wonder what video she would make to visually explain this song.



Music videos used to have an underlying message…showing off the environment… remember the Mass Appeal video? Then again, music videos used to require a budget with label presence (now Hip Hop videos are more glorified montage’s in front of large green screens).

The video for “Born Free” is radical, different, and hard hitting. It opens slowly with SWAT members driving through a city. The cops give the song the cue, and they begin “working”. By the way…the police are Americans (evident by the badges on their shoulders).

The SWAT team tears through an apartment complex beating everything and everyone from old people having sex to a middle aged man in his underwear. (They even pass a man smoking crack – they are not looking for drugs here). Eventually they capture a pale kid with red hair. The derogatory term for them is “ginger” (not fire-crotch). I do not know where you’re from, but I know quite a few “gingers” and they are nice people.

They throw the prisoner into a bus...filled with other young teenage males with red hair. The prisoners are driven to a vast empty desert and lined up. As they are being yelled at one of the SWAT members takes out a gun and executes the youngest red head of the group. They then order the rest of them to run, Rambo style, through a minefield.

You already know what happens here.

What does this video mean? If you have not watched it…or have not been able to sit through the 9 minutes of it…I suggest you do. It is powerful. However before I can discuss a meaning, I need to give a small background on MIA.

A little research and we learn of the Civil War in Sri Lanka with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE for short) – an internationally recognized terrorist group - and the Sri Lankan government. The Tamils are a minority in Sri Lanka (yet they have been on the island since the second century BCE). I am not here to take sides as we all know…”One Man’s Freedom Fighter is Another Man’s Terrorist”.

Back to the video.

The video is egregiously killing young “gingers” in order to evoke a point. This video metaphorically showing MIA’s perception of the troubles in Sri Lanka. The way the police run around searching and killing red haired teenagers is appalling and disturbing. This political message disguised as a music video explains the song better than any other video could. Mercilessly the red haired kids are slaughtered.

They are supposed to represent the Tamil people in a way that us ignorant Americans can relate.

But why?

M.I.A is Sri Lankan but a Tamil specifically. Realistically she is the only Tamil person in Western Media, so she feels she has to speak for her minority in Sri Lanka. (She states this in an interview with Tavis Smiley.) She’s sending a message.

I love the video. When I first watched it, I was appalled by the violence and political message disguised within it. Now I am happy that the video shows what it does. Like I mentioned before, this video can evoke an emotion rather than awe, wonder, and an erection at cuts of Rosa Acosta stretching on beat.

Yes…they viciously killed a few kids…and had an old couple fornicating naked on camera…but it is memorable. The minority being killed by the majority is something we cannot forget. I wish Hip Hop had more memorable videos like this…videos to push the envelope. What happened to “Triumph” or “Crossroads?” Even “Sly Fox”?

Hey underground artists…switch it up.