If you’re familiar with the Michael Jackson song “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (or if you’ve heard one of its countless covers and samples 1) you’ve probably wondered to yourself, “What the hell does mamase mamasa mamakusa mean?” Some cite misheard lyrics as the origin of the phrase, while others assume it’s a foreign language. Well, guess what? They’re both wrong.
Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Something'”
The fourth single released off Jackson’s 1982 Thriller album, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” begins like most songs. The lyrics are cryptic but coherent: “Too high to get over, too low to get under” 2. But then we progress to scandalous accusations of vegetablehood. And ultimately the whole song culminates in some scat-like mumbo jumbo repeated over and over again.
Many people hear different things: “mama sa cudae”, “mama say mama sa mamakusa”, “mamasai mamakusa” and even “macusa”. The official lyrics, according to album liner notes are “ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa”. 3 But what does it all mean? Well, it doesn’t mean anything. Technically.
Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa”
But it’s based off of a refrain from the song “Soul Makossa” 4 released in 1972 by a groovy-ass saxophonist from Cameroon named Manu Dibango. “Soul Makossa” is a funky jam with the lyrics “mama-ko, mama-ssa, makomako-ssa” repeated over and over again throughout the song.
The scat lyrics are a play on the Duala word makossa and the object of the song’s tribute. Makossa is a style of music originating in Cameroon 5 in the 1950s and 60s and evolving from Western influences (like Latin jazz and instruments), and Pan-African influences (like the claps and chants of kossa dancing).
A decade after dancers shook their booties to “Soul Makossa”, Michael Jackson ‘borrowed’ the refrain for his Thriller track “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” 6. The chant underwent minor pronunciation changes—probably due to Jackson’s unique writing process 7— until it became the scat-like mumbo-jumbo we remember today.
- “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” | Who Sampled?
- “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” | Genius
- Jackson, Michael | “Wanna Be Startin’ Somthing” |Thriller | 1982
- Dibango, Manu | “Soul Makossa” | Soul Makossa [Single] | 1972
- Ngbwa, Jean Fabrice | “Makossa in Cameroon” | Music in Africa | 2015
- Jackson, Michael | “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” | Thriller | 1982
- “Michael Jackson Shot Down a Plagiarism Suit by Singing” | Fact Fiend – With Karl Smallwood