The background vocalist sings it in the intro and after the chorus. The lyrics are in the Swahili language.

"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was a top five hit for Michael Jackson from 1983. It was another smash hit taken from Michael Jackson's huge 1982 lp, "Thriller" (still the largest selling lp in history). "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was a hit in the late summer of 1983, and was an instance dance classic (despite Michael's later troubles, this hit is still very much appreciated on dance floors with it's connection to country line dancing sensibility). "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" is also something of an internationally made hit. The last lines or more accurately utterings as I have printed here, as told to other by the writer of the song, Mark Anthony Neal, are taken from Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango's suprise 1973 U.S. hit, "Soul Makossa", and roughly translate from the original French as, "My-My-My-My-Its- My-My-Its-Coo". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was also the longest song on the Michael Jackson "Thriller" lp at 6:03 in length and was the only song on the lp to not be made into a music video (despite it's success on the charts).