"Bucky Done Gun" is the third single from musician M.I.A.'s album ''

Arular ''Arular'' is the debut studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the United States, and one month later in the United Kingdom, with a slightly different track listing. In 2004, the album's release was ...

''. The song was composed in London in 2004 as one of the last compositions for her debut album and credited to Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Carol Conners,

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (1976), '' Rocky II'' (1979), '' Rocky III'' (1982), '' Rocky V'' (1990), '' Rocky Balboa'' (2006), '' The Karat ...

, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, Ayn Robbins and Deize Tigrona. It was released by

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

in the UK,

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

in the US and Remote Control Records in Australia on 11 July 2005 in 12-inch vinyl and CD single formats. The B-side of the release is the song "Pull Up the People" from ''Arular''. Upon release, the song reached number 88 on the UK Singles Chart. "Bucky Done Gun" is an uptempo

baile funk Funk carioca (), also known as baile funk and Brazilian funk, or even simply funk, is a Brazilian hip hop-influenced music genre from Rio de Janeiro, taking influences from musical styles such as Miami bass and freestyle. In Brazil, "baile fu ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

song, combining elements of electro, grime, hip hop and pop music. The song is inspired from Tigrona's funk carioca song "Injeção" from where a drum loop is included and flipped and horns are sampled but recomposed from the song "

Gonna Fly Now "Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from ''Rocky''", is the theme song from the movie ''Rocky'', composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford. Released in 1976 with ''Rock ...

" composed by Conti, Conners and Robbins. The song is produced by Diplo with additional production by Dave "A. Brucker" Taylor, P. Byrne and Wizard. The song's title word "Bucky" is a reference to the London grime slang word for a gun, while the composition is lyrically influenced by her experiences of civil war in Sri Lanka and how the songwriter viewed the journey of

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. The song was a critical success, with many contemporary critics complimenting the tough yet raw themes of revolution and sexuality in the song's music direction and lyrics. The song's accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

directed by

Anthony Mandler Anthony Mandler is an American film, television, and music video director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on sixteen music videos together throughout her car ...

was filmed on a desert in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, US. M.I.A. intended for the video to be shot in the

favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was b ...

s in Brazil, but could not shift filming there due to time and budget constraints. The video portrays the singer performing live in an underground nightclub and a desolate wasteland, mixed with scenes of teenagers throwing grenades of smoking colour at buildings. M.I.A and her live backup singer Cherry Byron-Withers provocatively grind against a chain-linked fence and giggling children play in dirty streets and damp landscapes amidst flags of her single artwork. The release of the song and the video's rotation on

MTV Brasil MTV Brasil was a Brazilian over-the-air television network owned by Grupo Abril focused on the youth and entertainment. The network was launched on 20 October 1990, as the first specialty television network to broadcast over-the-air, becoming ...

marked the first time that a funk carioca-inspired song was played on mainstream radio and music television in Brazil, the genre's country of origin, and contributed towards her rise in popularity there. M.I.A. performed the song on 3 May 2005 on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' and performs the song on her concert tours, first on the Arular Tour and most recently on the /\/\ /\ Y /\ Tour where it was well appreciated by fans. M.I.A.'s performance of the song and "Injeção" with Tigrona at the 2005 TIM Festival in Brazil was a critical and fan success. "Bucky Done Gun" was included in the soundtrack of ''

NBA Live 06 ''NBA Live 06'' is a 2005 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series released for Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and mobile devices. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA ...

'', renamed and re-edited as "Bucky Done."

Composition

Music video

The

for "Bucky Done Gun" was directed by

. Filming took place in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

. It features Arulpragasam rapping aggressively against a desolate wasteland with erratic flags bearing her album artwork, erratically interspersed with scenes of her performing live in an underground nightclub, filmed in an artsy,

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

style. The video is also mixed with images of teenagers throwing grenades of smoking colour at buildings; Arulpragasam's live backup singer Ms. Cherry provocatively grinding against a chain-linked fence and giggling children playing in dirty streets and damp landscapes.

Cultural impact and use in media

"Bucky Done Gun", as writer W. H. from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' notes, led to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

being where M.I.A. had enjoyed her most remarkable resonance after the release of ''Arular''. The song became a hit on

after its release, a first for the

indigenous music Indigenous music is a term for the traditional music of the indigenous peoples of the world, that is, the music of an "original" ethnic group that inhabits any geographic region alongside more recent immigrants who may be greater in number. The ter ...

scene of the

s or urban ghettos in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. She stated in an interview from the country during her Arular Tour "There's a big divide between the classes. Favela Funk is seen as music of the poor people, and 'Bucky' is the first time they've played that sound on commercial radio. It's my first visit here and it's mayhem - me turning up at a funk ball is a big deal. It's kinda complicated." Critics have praised the development as encouraging and reflective of the emerging new reality, "the idea of

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

art and populist technology dissolving cultural borders not with some

Eurocentric Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) refers to viewing the West as the center of world events or superior to other cultures. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world to just the continent of Euro ...

stand-up-for-love sap ballad, but with a politicised 'let's fuck' anthem by a British Sri Lankan, produced by a

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

-born American DJ using a Rio de Janeiro ghetto groove." Hattie Collins of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' highlights M.I.A. as a baile funk/

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

pop pioneer with the release paving the way for bands CSS and

Bonde do Rolê Bonde do Rolê () is a Brazilian funk carioca-influenced electropop group from Curitiba, Paraná state, and consists of MC's Pedro D'Eyrot, Laura Taylor, and DJ/MC Rodrigo Gorky. In 2006, ''Rolling Stone'' described the group as "Brazilian Part ...

to emerge in her wake. The musician

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

bands

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

and

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, '' The Rising Tied'', was released in ...

highlighted the song as the latter band's anthem during the European leg of their 2005 tour. A remix of the song was played by

DJ AM Adam Michael Goldstein (March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009), known professionally as DJ AM, was an American DJ. Born in Philadelphia, Goldstein became interested in deejaying as a child after watching Herbie Hancock perform his 1983 single " ...

and

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

during the

2008 MTV Video Music Awards The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 7, 2008, live from Paramount Pictures Studios (which, like MTV, is owned by Viacom), honoring the best music videos from the previous year. Nominations for a majority of the categories were ...

. The song was named the 215th best song of the decade by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''.

Track listings and formats

;CD 1 #"Bucky Done Gun" adio edit– 3:45 #"Pull Up the People" 'Explicit remix– 3:35 ;CD 2 / Australian CD single #"Bucky Done Gun" – 3:45 #"Bucky Done Gun" J Marlboro's Funk Carioca remix– 2:37 #"Bucky Done Gun" �£$ Productions's remix– 3:26 #"Bucky Done Gun" aVinChe remix– 3:00 #"Bucky Done Gun" nstrumental – 3:46 #"Bucky Done Gun" capella– 3:17 ;12" vinyl single #"Bucky Done Gun" – 3:45 #"Bucky Done Gun" aVinChe remix– 3:00 #"Pull Up the People" 'Explicit remix– 3:35

Credits and personnel

Songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

– Mathangi Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Carol Conners,

, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, Ayn Robbins, Deize Tigrona *Main performer - Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

- Diplo, Dave "A. Brucker" Taylor, P. Byrne *Additional production - Wizard * Mixing, final mix – Wizard, Dave "A. Brucker" Taylor, P. Byrne *Programming - Wizard *

Artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

- Mathangi Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam Adapted from album liner notes:

Charts

References

{{authority control 2005 songs 2005 singles M.I.A. (rapper) songs XL Recordings singles Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler Song recordings produced by Diplo Songs written by M.I.A. (rapper) Songs written by Bill Conti Songs written by Diplo Funk carioca songs Grime music songs