Manu Dibango released “Soul Makossa” in 1972. He wrote it as the B-side to “Mouvement Ewondo,” a praise song for the Cameroonian football team on the occasion of the 1972 Tropics Cup. Language Log explains the chant-like lyrics:

The story behind these seemingly nonsensical syllables is a fascinating one, originating in the Cameroonian language Duala.

Duala is spoken in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city, which has long been a musical hotbed. Since the 1960s, Cameroonian pop music has been dominated by a rhythmic style of dance music from Douala known as makossa. The Duala word makossa is often glossed as “(I) dance” (as in this article by Cameroonian linguist George Echu). The entry for makossa in the Oxford English Dictionary further explains that makossa is “derivative of kosa ‘to peel or remove the skin of (a fruit or vegetable)’; the name refers to the twisting and shaking movements of the dancer.”

Language Log quotes this excerpt of Dibango’s autobiography, Three Kilos of Coffee:

On one side of the 45 I recorded the hymn [praise song]; on the other I recorded “Soul Makossa,” written using a traditional makossa rhythm with a little soul thrown in. In my Douala neighborhood, at my parents’ house, I rehearsed this second piece. The house had no air-conditioning, and the windows were wide open. All the kids flocked around. Hearing me rehearse, they fell over laughing. Unbelievable — how on earth had I concocted that mishmash? Poor makossa really took a blow. My father was astonished: “Can’t you pronounce ‘makossa’ like everyone else? You stutter: ‘mamako mamasa.’ You think they’re going to accept that in Yaoundé?” The Cup organizing committee reacted the same way. The march on side one they found “impeccable.” But the other side… “Really, Manu has gone nuts. What possesses him to stutter like that?”

The New York DJ and party promoter David Mancuso got his hands on “Soul Makossa” and played it incessantly at his loft parties. The song became an underground hit, especially when it started getting airplay on WBLS. The few copies floating around New York were quickly snapped up by other DJs. Several bands rushed out their own covers to fill the gap, most notably Baba Olatunji and the Lafayette Afro-Rock Band. Their versions are fun, but nowhere near as funky as the original. Finally, Atlantic Records released Manu Dibango’s version on one of their sub-labels, and it went so far as to crack the top 40 in 1973.

Soul Makossa quotes, samples and remixes

Quoting “Soul Makossa” became something of a trope in the early eighties, ranging from subtle references to the beat or bassline or horn line to full-blown quotation. My favorite example is by Nairobi featuring the Awesome Foursome.

This song just screams 1982, especially with those 808 cowbells. This song was itself sampled in many other songs, including Schoolly D’s “Mama Feel Good.”

Kool Moe Dee’s “Pump Your Fist” draws on “Soul Makossa” for percussion, the wah guitar stab and part of the main sax riff.

A more recent example: “Latinhead” by Dirty Beatniks.

Soul Makossa has also been sampled by Jay-Z, Geto Boys, Poor Righteous Teachers and A Tribe Called Quest, among many others. See a full list of samples.

Michael Jackson and “Wanna Be Startin’ Something”

By far the most famous musical descendant of “Soul Makossa” is Michael Jackson’s first single from Thriller, the best song on that album and a strong contender for the best song of the eighties, period.

I was at a hippie-ish wedding this past summer. People were having a good time, but not really dancing. Then “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” came up on the iPod and the party suddenly jumped off. Little kids, old folks, everyone in between, people were getting down. Say what you want about Michael Jackson as a human being, but there’s no denying the power of this song. It never fails to get people shaking their butts, across all ages, races, classes and cultural backgrounds.

The copyright-minded among you might well ask: did MJ steal the Makossa chant? Manu Dibango certainly thought so, and sued MJ, eventually reaching an out-of-court settlement. The issue isn’t a cut-and-dried one for me, though. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two chants:

The most obvious difference is in the syllables, but there are musical differences too. Manu Dibango’s chant is a two-bar phrase sung/chanted entirely on the note G, over an unchanging G7 chord. Michael Jackson’s chant is a four-bar phrase with a call and response structure. He adds a two-note melody harmonized in thirds and a chord progression alternating between D/E and E7. MJ also uses a little more syncopation. I’d say that MJ’s chant is more of an adaptation than a direct theft.

“Wanna Be Startin’ Something” quotes, samples and remixes

Pop and hip-hop musicians quote MJ’s version of the Makossa chant incessantly. Some high-profile examples:

• “No Clause 28” by Boy George
• “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” by Will Smith
• “Cowboys” by the Fugees
• “Brooklyn Girls” by Charles Hamilton
• “Lost In The World” by Kanye West

People love to shout out the chant during live performances, too, everyone from Zap Mama to Jamie Foxx. Rihanna goes further than quoting MJ’s chant; she builds an entire dance track around a reharmonized sample of it. MJ’s song is in the key of E, but Rihanna’s producers put it in the key of F# minor. This is hip stuff; the same notes in MJ’s sunny and uplifting coda become melancholy in Rihanna’s track.

People quote other parts of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” too. Big Daddy Kane quotes the “Yeah yeah” part in “Warm It Up Kane,” listen at 1:32.

Other tracks quoting this phrase include “Vibin’ (The New Flava Remix)” by Boyz II Men and Busta Rhymes featuring Treach, Craig Mack and Method Man, and “Feels So Good” by Mase.

Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz adapt big swaths of MJ’s song in “Startin’ Something.”

Björk has to be different, of course, so she (mis)quotes the opening line of MJ’s song in live versions of “I Go Humble.” And by the way, her MJ fandom was apparently reciprocal, if this radio show transcript is to be believed.

Visualizing the Makossa diaspora

Here’s a complete map of the genealogy of the Makossa chant; click to enlarge.

Putting it all together

Here’s a mashup I made combining several of the tracks mentioned above so you can get your makossa on.

Wanna Be Startin’ Something megamix by ethanhein

Any noteworthy sightings of the Makossa meme that I missed? Let me know in the comments.

Hat tip to Mike Devlin for coining the phrase “Makossa diaspora.”

There’s a cool scene in the TV Movie “The Jacksons – An American Dream” showing Michael in the studio recording “Human Nature.” It’s at around 6:58 and unfortunately the sound isn’t lined up too closely.

Here’s a cool fan video:

SWV samples “Human Nature” for their song “Right Here (Human Nature Mix.)

“Human Nature” is extensively quoted, if not actually sampled, in Tupac’s “Thug Nature.”

Miles Davis played it a lot his last few years, unfortunately not while he was at the peak of his game. Still, it’s intriguing to hear his interpretation.

A sample of “Human Nature” runs under the verses in Nas’ song “It Ain’t Hard To Tell.”

The track was produced by Large Professor. It also includes samples of “NT” by Kool and the Gang, “Why Can’t People Be Colors Too?” by the Whatnauts, “Slow Dance” by Stanley Clarke, “What Do You Want From Me Woman” by The Blue Jays, “Long Red” by Mountain and “Sorcerer Of Isis” by Power Of Zeus. Nas himself sampled “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” in his later song “Nas Is Like”. He isn’t the only one. “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” has been sampled in “Killing Fieldz” by Gravediggaz, “Invasion” by Jeru the Damaja, “Survival Of The Fittest” by Mobb Deep, “Half Man Half Amazin” by Pete Rock and others. Here’s a diagram of all the samples Nas used on Illmatic:

Where else is “Human Nature” out there in pop culture? Any other samples or covers I should be aware of? Hit me in the comments.

Here’s a mashup including many of the tracks mentioned in this post:

Human Nature Megamix by ethanhein

And here’s a mashup with Björk’s “Human Behaviour.”

Human Nature And Behaviour by ethanhein

Manu Dibango

He wrote “Soul Makossa,” the inspiration for MJ’s chant.

“Soul Makossa” isn’t exactly the same as MJ’s version. Manu Dibango speak/sings “ma ma ko, ma ko sa, ma ko ma ko sa” on one note. MJ sings “ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa” as a sus chord resolving to a major chord.

Michael Jackson

Wrote “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.” On the recording he sings lead and backing vocals, and he did some of the production and arrangement.

Quincy Jones

Produced the track, which in this context means he supervised the recording sessions, probably wrote the horn chart and did some other musical shaping. I have no idea what legal rights Quincy Jones has over the recording or composition, if any.

The other musicians

Along with MJ, the track features three synth and keyboard players, a guitarist, a bassist, a percussionist, a horn section and bunch of backing vocalists. Plus somebody programmed the drum machine. Legally, these folks aren’t entitled to anything beyond the union scale they got paid for the recording sessions, but my musician friends would say there’s an element of spiritual ownership.

Bruce Swedian

He was the lead recording engineer. He probably had some other engineers and assistants working with him as well, the internet doesn’t say. As with the backing musicians, he has zero ownership beyond what he got paid for the original sessions. His fellow recording engineers would stick up passionately for his spiritual ownership over the track, since it wouldn’t exist without him, and it wouldn’t have its arrestingly distinctive sound.

Sony Music Distribution

The label that presently puts out Thriller and, presumably, owns the master recording rights. There may be other co-owners, including MJ and his various financial partners and creditors.

BMG

The rights-management company that handles Sony’s publishing. Again, I’m sure there are other complex co-owners, from MJ on out.

Me

I paid ninety-nine cents for the mp4 on the iTunes store. I co-owned a cassette copy with my sister and stepbrother as a kid. I have a decades-long emotional relationship with the song.

Apple

They sold me the mp4 and the hardware I mostly use to listen to it.

My dad or stepmother

Or my stepbrother’s dad or whoever bought us the cassette of Thriller back in the eighties. Plus whoever they bought the cassette from (I’m guessing Sam Goody on 59th and Third), plus whoever was distributing Thriller on cassettes back then.

The situation only gets more complicated as I follow the chant’s path through my life. A few months ago I went with Anna and our neighbor to hear Zap Mama at Joe’s Pub. During one of her songs, she quoted MJ’s chant. Who owned that instance of the chant? Zap Mama? Joe’s Pub? Us, for buying tickets? Who owned the experience of me hearing the chant at Papaya King, or in Prospect Park, or on the computer network in my office? What about when the guy with the motorcycle was riding around Park Slope blasting “Soul Makossa” from his speakers and I mistook it for a remix of MJ?

What about the copy of “Don’t Stop The Music” by Rihanna that I bought from Apple? I assume that Rihanna’s producers and management paid some sort of licensing fee to Michael Jackson and/or his copyright holders to use the sample, or maybe they got a cut of my ninety-nine cents. They didn’t pay Manu Dibango anything.

Sampling makes people anxious because it raises so many questions about ownership. These questions are only going to get more complicated as technology evolves. The emotional questions are every bit as complex as the legal ones, if not more so. My feeling is, everybody who’s ever heard the chant owns it. Which means that no one does.

Here’s a mashup of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” and “Soul Makossa” with many related and derivative works.

Wanna Be Startin’ Something megamix by ethanhein

Update: within an hour of posting this, Otis Taylor tweeted me from a concert where Jamie Foxx was leading the crowd in the chant.

Another method to get lively yet polished recordings is to use ferocious discipline to create the illusion of spontaneity. Michael Jackson was able to give his performances on Thriller so much polish by recording take after take after take, all at the same level of manic intensity, with his grunts and screams arrayed precisely and intentionally. I can admire the focus he was able to bring to bear over long hours of tedious studio labor, but the psyche that produced his work ethic isn’t something I’d wish on myself or anyone else.

The digital audio workstation offers a third way out. Compositing and splicing different performances together in Pro Tools isn’t any harder than copying and pasting paragraphs in a word processor. If you work in grid mode, you can effortlessly set a particular section to run on a loop, automatically recording each pass as a separate take. The performer can take as many tries as they want, with no need to stop and rewind in between each one. Because hard disk space is essentially free, there’s no cost barrier to running the loop endlessly, trying out different ideas until the right one pops out.

Loop recording was originally conceived as a way to help performers nail especially tricky passages. As with so much music technology, though, it’s taken on a broader creative function, in this case helping people write songs during the recording process. Hip-hop continues the jazz tradition of composing through improvisation. Where jazz musicians might write down a particularly tasty lick to turn it into a song on paper, hip-hop artists more often use the recording medium itself as the composition tool. With loop recording it becomes possible to give playfully tossed-off lines all the perfection and precision you could want. The standard hip-hop and R&B writing method is to put together a more or less complete instrumental track, and then improvise vocals on top. The best ideas get edited, looped, doubled, harmonized and layered into the finished product. As pop music gets more hip-hop oriented, more songwriting is taking the form of improvising in loop mode. The backing tracks themselves are also usually written in loop mode, though usually with sequencers rather than audio recording.

Ironically, having the freedom to effortlessly record and comp together unlimited takes can results in your not needing to. If you’re not under pressure to get things right in a certain number of takes first time, it can put you in the relaxed frame of mind that helps you get things right the first time. Cee-Lo Green’s arresting lead vocal in Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was famously recorded in one take.

Just for fun and visual inspiration, here are some of my Flickr images related to the concept of loop recording.