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“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” is a song by American R&B musician Michael Jackson, featured on his 1982 sixth studio album Thriller. Released as the fourth single from the album on May 8, 1983, the song peaked at number five on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, topped the American Hot Black Singles and Hot Dance Club Songs charts and reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart. “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” was re-recorded with hip hop artist Akon for the 2008 reissue album Thriller 25 under the title “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008″ and was released as a single, charting at number 48 in the United States.
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” was written by Jackson in 1978 and originally intended for release on his 1979 fifth studio album, Off the Wall. The song was not recorded, however, until the 1982 sessions for Thriller, the album on which it was eventually released.
At six minutes and three seconds, “Wanna Be Startin Somethin’” is also the longest song on Thriller.
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” continued the trend of hit singles for Jackson, eventually peaking at number five on the Pop and on the R&B charts, and gaining time on radio playlists across the country. The song was often not played at full length, however, due to industry format standards.
The song ends with a chorus repeatedly singing “Mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-coo-sa”. According to writer Mark Anthony Neal, “the lyrics were taken directly from the music of Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango[/wikipop] who broke into the American market in 1973 with his classic ‘Soul Makossa.’” Kelef Sanneh of The New Yorker magazine, explains that “Soul Makossa,” “was [a big] hit, in Africa, in Europe, and in America, where it came to be seen as one of the first disco records.” Also, Sanneh explains that, “[Dibango] named his song after the makossa, a Cameroonian dance, but he stretched the word out, [and] played with it [so that it sounded like]: ‘Ma-mako, ma-ma-ssa, mako-makossa.’”[1] Although Jackson’s chant imitates Dibango’s chant, Jackson’s version is essentially a mispronunciation of the word Dibango is chanting.
Jackson’s version of the Dibango chant has since been sampled and incorporated into other songs, including an interpretation by Rihanna on her 2007 single, “Don’t Stop the Music”, and the hook was also been sampled in D12 and Obie Trice’s song “Doe Rae Me.” Charles Hamilton makes a reference to the chant in his song, “Brooklyn Girls”, as does Will Smith in his song, “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It”.
One of the songs released as a single without an accompanying video, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” nonetheless has attained a popularity rivaling its sister compositions on the album, and had become Jackson’s song of choice for opening live concerts, partly due to “startin’ something” such as the concert. Not being as strictly associated with a specific dance routine as those others has arguably allowed for more flexibility in performances and staging.
Two notable occurrences that happened during live performances were the physically complicated “stop/start” dance technique that brought Jackson and his dancers to a frozen stop several times, and the sing-along between performer and audience during the bridge.
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” was also used on every set list of Jackson’s tours, from the Victory Tour in 1984, right the way through to the HIStory Tour in 1997.
In the United States, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008″ was released as the first downloadable single (although “The Girl Is Mine 2008″ was the first release internationally) from Jackson’s latest album Thriller 25 on January 23.[3][4] It is a re-worked, updated version featuring Akon on lead vocals with Michael Jackson on backing vocals. However, it was also played in full at least a week earlier on the Bristol and South Wales station Kiss 101 part of the Kiss Network, and it had leaked on the internet in late 2007 (a demo version without background vocals including Jackson’s part also exists).
In the U.S., the single premiered on the Providence, Rhode Island-based Top-40 station WPRO-FM.[5] The single had its physical release in Germany on March 21, 2008 (2-track, 3-track CDs + 12″ Vinyl) and in France on March 25, 2008. In France, a special edition of the 2-track CD with a picture of Jackson and Akon on the cover was released on April 7, 2008.[6]
The single received its official premier UK radio play on GCap Media’s Music Control radio show presented by Kevin Hughes across The One Network on January 24, 2008. The song was officially released in the UK on June 16, 2008 despite the fact that it has already entered the singles chart once already at number 69. The song was certified gold in Australia for sales of 35,000 copies.[7] The song has a music video; it features clips of Michael Jackson’s older music videos and clips of Akon singing his parts. This was Michael Jackson’s final single before his death on June 25, 2009.
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