Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Starting Something

'Wanna be startin' somethin'' was the fourth single taken from the album 'Thriller'. It was originally intended for the album 'Off the wall' but was not recorded until the sessions for 'Thriller' in 1982.

The song was written by Michael Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones.

The song ends with a chorus repeatedly singing "Mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-coo-sa". The chant is a riff on one first used by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, who broke into the American market in 1973 with his classic 'Soul Makossa'. ''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," says Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker magazine. Sanneh adds 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'.

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'.

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 became 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.

The single made it to number 8 on the UK singles Chart, number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the US Billboard Hot Black Single Chart.

Click the link below to download the following:
Single Version
Brothers in Rhythm Mix
White Label house REmix
B.I.R House Mix
Jason Nevins Remix
Hurricane Remix
Rock With You - Live - B-Side

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