There have been many instances where African musicians have sampled popular American songs. The sampling gets done so blatantly that you could call some songs 'Thriller in Swahili', 'Amazing Grace in Zulu' and 'Unleash the dragon in Twi'. One popular remix or sampling is that of Banky W's Ebute metta which was also first known as the Nigerian remix of Rihanna's Umbrella. People may complain about the lack of originality of these African musicians but maybe they will care to know that Manu Dibango's Soul Makossa is part of the backbone for Rihanna's worldwide hit - Please don't stop the music. "Mama-se, mama-sa, mama-ma-ko-ssa" (mamase mamase mamakusa) is that line that has kept dance floors going since 1972.

Watch Manu Dibango's Soul Makossa video

Manu Dibango is a Cameroonian makossa saxophonist who released Soul Makossa in 1972. Makossa means (i)dance in a Cameroonian language called Duala. The song was originally recorded as a B-side for 'Mouvement Ewondo' a song about Cameroon's association football team. Dibango's disco record found its way to New York and a couple of deejays there loved the Camerounian groove and the song enjoyed heavy radio rotation. Soon enough, multiple people released cover versions to capitalize on the song's popularity. Imagine New Yorkers calling a radio station to request for a song whose words they barely knew. Atlantic Records eventually licensed the song from the French record label Fiesta. The song peaked at at #35 on the Billboard chart in 1973 and it is on record to be the only African record to crack the top 40.

Apart from Rihanna's track sampling it, it is also famously used in Michael Jackson's 1983 hit 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. Dibango's lawyers were awarded compensation in an out-of-court settlement claiming Jackson had stolen the chorus from Dibango.

Akon also used it in his own version of 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. Jay-Z seems to have a thing with African music himself, as he samples this famous track in 'Face Off' on his 'In My Lifetime, Vol. 1' album.

If Akon got in on the act, you could bet that other musicians of African origin have gotten in on the act. One of them is Reggie Rockstone, famously known for putting hiplife on the Ghanaian music map. He samples Soul Makossa for his track, 'Do that' on his Meka album released in 2000. Part of the chorus goes like "Put your hands in the air cuz you're African, do da do that that, cuz you're African".

Watch the Don't stop the music video

Watch the Wanna be startin something video

Watch the video using Akon's 'Wanna be startin somethin'

Watch a video with the Face Off audio

Do you guys know of any other songs by non-African artistes that have sampled African songs?

Credit - Wikipedia