This track is an undeniable banger, one of Michael’s most reliable dance-floor fillers, but it’s also extremely weird. (All of Michael’s best songs are.) Its most memorable hook is an African-sounding phrase that no one knows the meaning of. We will get to that below, but first let’s examine the rest of the song. Michael wrote Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' for his sister La Toya to express the conflicts she was having with her sisters-in-law. Both Michael and La Toya performed it, but Michael’s version is the famous one. It was the fourth consecutive single from Thriller to hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s one of four songs on the album that Michael is credited with writing - the other three are Billie Jean, Beat It, and The Girl Is Mine with Paul McCartney. Michael programmed the beat on a Linn LM-1 drum computer, a drum machine that came to be most closely associated with his arch-rival Prince.