"Boom shakalaka" is a word used as both a chant and an interjection that, as far as its fragmented history allows to conclude, originates in the African American community. The word exists in a myriad of other forms and spellings, foremost the oIder and longer form "boom shakalakalaka", which is in particular found in music. "Boom shakalaka" dates back at least to the 1960s and lingered in the background of popular culture until its use skyrocketed in the 1990s following the 1987 hit song "Walk the Dinosaur" and the 1993 hit video game NBA Jam. The 2000s saw the end of this "boom shakalaka" boom but after a decade of exposure the word has become normalized and obtained a handful of meanings.
The oldest documented instance of "Boom Shakalaka" recognized as such is the March 1969 B-Side song "I Want to Take You Higher" by Sly and the Family Stone, which contains the refrain "Boom laka-laka-laka". It was re-released in March 1970 as an A-Side song and thereafter covered by various artists. Of note is the May 1970 cover by Ike & Tina Turner, in which "Boom laka-laka-laka" is replaced with "Boom shaka-laka-laka". A contemporary song to use "boom shakalaka" is "Boom-Shacka-Lacka" by Hopeton Lewis, which he submitted for the 1970 Jamaica Independence Festival in June and won with in August.
A potential predecessor to "boom shakalaka" is the chorus line "Ah, shack-er-lack-er-lack-er-lack-er-lack-er-lack-er-lack! UMH." from "Shove It Over" as documented and sung by Zora Neale Hurston for the Federal Writers' Project in 1939. "Shove It Over" is a Floridian work song used for rail lining that she was introduced to in 1933. Of the lyrics, the "shakalaka" line, written down as such in Hurston's papers, is the key phrase because it is the only line that guides the actual rail lining process.
Due to its prominence in "Walk the Dinosaur", a song that remained relevant well into the 1990s due to the dinosaur boom, "boom shakalaka" has come to be a shorthand for primitivity in the broadest sense of the word, being able to convey Stone Punk, Hollywood Natives of all kinds, primordial entities, and more. NBA Jam, which was part of the basketball craze of the 1990s, created a lasting association between "boom shakalaka" and basketball and more broadly made "boom shakalaka" a cry of victory or achievement. Tim Kitzrow, who did the voicework for NBA Jam, has declared "boom shakalaka" in hindsight to be a fitting onomatopoeia for a slam dunk: the "boom" is when the ball goes through the hoop and the "shakalaka" is the ringing of the hoop afterwards. Possibly for the same kind of reasoning, "boom shakalaka" also has come to signify any form of impact, be that an explosion, sex, or even good food.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Basket dunk: Volume 2: During a backetball game in Rudy's room, Markus uses his friend's bed to jump high enough for a slam dunk, exclaiming "Boomshakalaka!" as he goes.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer: New Rules, Part Three: Magic goes by a new set of rules and Willow is therefore able to cast magic using "boom shaka laka" as her spell instead of having to rely on ancient languages.
- Powers: Issue #2: Kutter uses "Boom boom shakalaka laka boom boom!!" to pester Walker and Deena with an accusation that they'd be having relations.
Literature
- The Novelization of Batman (1989) uses this as a representation of music played by the villains in at least one scene.
- Leo Waterman: Chump Change Lost in thought at the Eastlake Zoo, Waterman only is aware of the song "I Want to Take You Higher" playing on the jukebox at those times it reaches "Boom shaka laka laka. Boom shaka laka laka."
Films — Live-Action
- Adventures in Dinosaur City: The theme song for Dinosaurs includes eight instances of the line "Boom shakalakalaka" all throughout the lyrics, one of "Boom shaka boom shaka boom shakalaka" at the beginning, and one of "Boom boom boom shakalaka boom" at the end.
- Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son: As 'Big Momma' runs off with two students, Kurtis looks on and says "Beautiful thang. Boom-shaka-laka-laka boom-shaka-laka-laka."
- Broomshakalaka: The broomshakalaka, a portmanteau of "broom" and "boomshakalaka", is an all-in-one multipurpose broom.
- The Dukes of Hazzard: Bo is shooting flaming arrows at full gas cans. When he hits his second, he emphasizes the explosion with an exclamation of "Boom Shakalaka!"
- Muppet Treasure Island: Benjamina Gunn becomes the queen of the native boars of Treasure Island and takes on the name Boom Shakalaka. When the boars announce her to visitors, they sing "Boom Shakalaka" five times, then repeat "Boom Shakalaka-laka" forty-five times, and end on one "Shakalaka".
- The Rundown: Declan sermons during an all-or-nothing gun fight, ending his magniloquent speech in "Boom shakalaka! Ta-da!" just as Beck blows up a truck in the center of the battleground.
- Stripes: John Winger leads his platoon into a drill display. They sing an rockabilly-esque military cadence that closes on "Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka"
- The Wolf of Wall Street: Jordan Belfort punctuates his first scummy sale at Investor's Center in 1987 with "Boom shakalaka!"
Films — Animation
- The Addams Family (2019): When Margaux Needler attacks the Addams House, Pugsley fights back with explosives. He takes out one boulder hurled at the house with a calmly spoken "Shakalaka bang, baby!"
- The Boss Baby: Family Business: "Boomshakalaka!" is somewhat Tabitha's catchphrase. For instance, she successfully recites the Periodic table backwards and congratulates herself with a "Nailed it! Boomshakalaka!" Later, she and Tina fight back against Dr. Erwin Armstrong, throwing respectfully soda pop and Mentos mints at him. Tabitha punctuates her throw with "Boomshakalaka!" and Tina adds a curt "Boom!"
- Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus: Halfway the primordial Titans' song about how they're going to destroy the world, they sing "Boom-shaka-laka-laka / Boom-shaka-laka-laka / Boom boom" twice. They repeat this thrice as as the song's closing lines, punctuated with extra "Boom booms" in-between.
- Wonder Park: Gus and Cooper pump the rocket by jumping from pump to pump around the rocket while chanting "Boom-shaka-boom!" to synchronize their rhythm.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: In the episode Acts of Sacrifice, Susan Ivanova incorporates the phrase into a song she sings to trick an elitist alien ambassador into thinking that they just had human-style sex.
- Dharma & Greg: "Spring Forward, Fall Down": Greg tries to learn Dharma the cha-cha-cha. She claims to already know how to do it and demonstrates, going from "One-two, cha-cha-cha" to "Boom shaka-laka-laka boom shaka-laka-laka" to "Three-four, cha-cha-cha" to "Boom shaka-laka-laka boom shaka-laka-laka boom boom boom shaka-laka-laka boom shaka-laka-laka" until she tires out. Her steps show she doesn't actually know the cha-cha-cha but she deviates a lot more during "Boom shaka-laka-laka" than during "Cha-cha-cha".
- Lucifer (2016): "Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid": Ryan tells Dan that Lucifer hired them for a gig and "Boom Shakalaka" now they're here as Dan's backup.
- Sesame Street: Episode 3182: In an effort to be original, Telly comes up with a dance set to a chant of "Boom shakalakalaka" on repeat. After a while, Maria instructs him to incorporate the number twelve, so Telly counts the "shakalakas" by going "One shakalaka", "Two shakalaka", and so on to twelve.
- Stella: "Paper Route": During a song about pacifism, Michael sings "A-ra-ca-ca-ca / A-ha-ha-ha-ha / Boom shakalaka boom shakalaka / Get up! Get up! Get up! Yeah!"
- Step by Step: "Phoney Business": Cody sings a few lines of "Home on the Range" and abruptly cuts that off in favor of "Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka".
- Studio C: "Boom Shaka Laka": "Boom Shaka Laka" is an alien code for spleen harvesting. "Boom" indicates a spleen of a worthwhile size, "shaka" indicates a young and healthy spleen, and "laka" rhymes with "shaka". Only the aliens and their cyborgs can say all three words in order, while real humans can't pronounce the "laka" if they've already said "boom shaka". The omnipresence of the word in 1995 is because there's a lot of cyborgs walking around looking for spleens.
- Succession: "Retired Janitors of Idaho": Waystar loses the Raisin as their puppet in power and while the family isn't happy about that, Connor sees it as an opportunity as formulated by his reaction of "Boomshakalaka, hell yeah!"
- Suits: "Quid Pro Quo": Donna orders Benjamin to get the technical parts of The Donna set up while she arranges meetings with potential investors. Benjamin hesitantly hypes himself up with a "Boomshakalaka..."
- Veep: "Baseball": Gary tries to make his lie over the phone that he's with the baseball team convincing by saying "Boom shakalaka" and claiming that's how the other players talk. It only makes the lie more blatant because "boom shakalaka" is associated with basketball and not baseball, but his father doesn't pick up on it.
- What's Happening!!: "Rerun Sees the Light": The lettuce-worshipping Babaraba cult have a variety of similar-sounding greetings "Oom shalagoon shaka shaka", "Oom laka laka", and "Oom lak lak oom". Raj mockingly switches it up to "Oom shaka laka".
- Workaholics: "Best Buds": Blake and Adam serve burritos filled with the raw flesh of a maggot-covered skunk corpse to Ders, Karl, and a food critic. Ders realizes what's going on and tries to salvage the situation by taking away the critic's burrito and asking the two to make him another one. Instead, Blake takes the whole rotting skunk and throws it in front of the critic with a loud "Boomshakalaka!"
Magazines
- Boom Shakalaka: The 1988-1992 reggae magazine is named after Hopeton Lewis's "Boom-Shacka-Lacka".
Music
- Apache Indian: "Boom Shack-A-Lak": "Boom shack-a-lak" is repeated twenty times. Most occurrences are in the seventh and ninth verses, because every sentence of the seventh verse ends with the phrase and the ninth verse is a sixfold "Boom boom shack-a-lak!"
- Big Bang: "Fantastic Baby": There are two refrains each consisting of six repeats of "Boom shakalaka" that are cut apart in two sets of three by the line "Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance".
- Chris Brown: "Privacy": The thrice repeated chorus contains the lines "Shake that ass like boom shakalaka, boom shakalaka (boom, boom)" and "Licking your private parts (Boom shakalaka, hahaha)". The song ends on a separate "Privacy / Boom shakalaka / Hahaha".
- Dawin: The chorus of "Jumpshot" is "You got me jumping like / Boom-shaka-lacka boom-shaka-lacka boom (3x) / Wanna hold you down"
- Hopeton Lewis: "Boom-Shacka-Lacka": The line "Boom-shacka-lacka-lacka boom boom boom" is repeated fourteen times divided in three sets of four and on set of two.
- Ike and Tina Turner: "I Want to Take You Higher": Three instances of "Boom-shacka-lacka-lacka / Boom-shacka-la-boonka-boom" are evenly distributed in and around the middle of the lyrics.
- K3: "Shakalaka": The refrain is a four times repetition of "Eyo eyo kili kili kili / Boem boem shakalaka boem boem". The refrain is repeated five times throughout the song about tickling. The lines also appear at the end of four of the eight verses in-between.
- Da Lench Mob: "Guerillas in tha Mist": Among all manner of jungle-related lines, there is "I need some elbow room / So I can boom shak-a-laka boom / That's the sound of the twenty gauge".
- Logan 7: "Boomshakalaka": About half of the lyrics is "Boomshakalakalaka" on repeat. The opening deviates by repeating "Boomshaka" a bunch of times and then by repeating "Lakalaka" for a bit.
- Lords of the Underground: "Chief Rocka": Interspersed through the verses are two cases of "Boom shakalaka", two cases of "Boom shakalak", and one case of "Boom shakshakalak".
- Minidisco: "Boemsjakalaka": "Boemsjakalaka hé hé hé" is a chant used by a witch doctor either to work his magic in general or specifically to bring out the sun. It is repeated four times to make up the chorus, which itself is used five times throughout the song. A four times repeat of "Boemsjakalaka" is sung as a background chant after the second chorus.
- Project '96: "Klimaty (Boom Shaka Laka)": Around the verses in which a man tries to get a woman to sleep with him, "Boom!" and "Shaka laka..." make up the four instances of the chorus in a different combination each instance.
- Sly and the Family Stone: "I Want to Take You Higher": About half the lyrics are "Boom laka-laka-laka". An additional three instances are "Boom laka-lagoon-ka boom" and these always come after a single "Boom laka-laka-laka".
- Snoop Dogg: "Boom": "Boom shakalaka" occurs once per chorus and as the opening of the third verse.
- Starlito and Don Trip: "Boomshakalaka": "Boomshakalaka" is a background noise that emphasizes the start of each verse.
- Steve Aoki, Deorro, MAKJ & Max Styler: "Shakalaka": Most of the lyrics is a repetition of "boom", which twice in in the verse and twice in the refrain is punctuated with "shakalaka". The only other lyric is an address to a woman who draws attention wherever she goes.
- Sweetbox: "Shakalaka": The lyrics about sex open with a "Shakalaka shakalaka boom" and two lines per refrain are "Shakalaka shakalaka shakalaka boom" for a total of six.
- Tag Team: "Whoomp! (There It Is)": The second chorus ends in a four times repetition of "Whoomp! Shaka-laka-shaka-laka shaka-laka shaka", replacing the "Boom" of "Boom Shakalaka" with the hook "Whoomp!".
- Twins: "Bum Szakalaka": "Bum Szakalaka" is used twenty time to mark the start of the chorus in a song about hooking up. It is both the part of the pre-chorus "Bum szakalaka zostaw mego ptaka" and occurs early twice per refrain, two of which make up the chorus.
- Was (Not Was): "Walk the Dinosaur": The lyrics open and close with a six times repetition of "Boom boom acka lacka lacka boom / Boom boom acka lacka boom boom". These lines are also twice repeated after the first instance of the chorus.
Pinball
- Medieval Madness: If the player is doing well, the jousting announcer may shout "Boomshakalaka!"
Video Games
- Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden: As Barkley nears Dikembe Mutombo's resting place, a "BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!" echoes through the tomb. A "BOOOOOOOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!" rings through the room before the central chamber and inside the central chamber the ghost of Mutombo introduces itself with "BOOOOOOOOOOM!", "SHAKA!", and "LAKA!" with each step of its manifestation.
- Battleborn: Kleese's taunt "Call of the Cantankerous" makes him do a little dance to one of a variety of quotes. One of the options is "Aaand... boom shaka laka laka boom shaka laka laka uh uh".
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!: The player helps Dunks Watson perform "the most badassinest dunk in history" in the mission "Boomshakalaka".
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: In the compilation's remake of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, the achievement "Boom Shakalaka!" is awarded when Coco defeats five enemies with her Body Slam attack.
- Despicable Bear: If he gets repeatedly beaten up, the bear might say "Boom shaka laka!"
- Genshin Impact:
- Even after collecting Jueyun Chilis for her new dish, Mao Xiangling still believes it to be "missing a little boom shaka-laka!" Paimon agrees that "it is a little boom shaka-laka-lacking." The confused protagonist can respond with "A shaka-laka-loada what now?"
- For the commission The Gourmet Supremos: Breakthrough Thinking, Xudong asks the protagonist to help him make something unlike Inazuman cuisine from Inazuman ingredients. The protagonists can respond with "You want that bit of boom-shaka-laka, don't you?" to the confusion of Xudong, who asks if they mean "a kind of feeling of awe from food". As they leave, Paimon suggests to the protagonist to go talk with Xiangling to get "that boom shaka-laka!" Doing so and bringing Xudong her notes is rewarded with the achievement "Boom Shaka-Laka, More Boom-Shaka-Laka".
- Guacamelee!: The achievement "Boom-Shack-Calaca" is a portmanteau of "Boom Shaka Laka" and "Calaca" and awarded for defeating Carlos Calaca.
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Flamewreathed Faceless belongs to the Shaman class and its flavor text reads "He's on fire! Boomshakalaka!"
- Kingdom Rush: Frontiers: Nivus the Grand Wizard may say "Boohoom shakalaka" during action.
- Mario Kart 8: Wario may say "Boom shakalaka!" when he's finished anywhere from second to sixth.
- Monster Hunter: The international version renames the tribal Chachabū the Shakalaka.
- Monster Legends: Boomshakalaka is a fire monster with highly destructive potential. It looks like a living flame wielding a large hammer of which the head is a TNT barrel with a lit fuse.
- NBA Jam: The announcer may shout "Boom shakalaka!" upon a a successful slam dunk.
- EA Sports Street: NFL Street 2: A player who performs a successful tackle may shout "Boom shakalaka!"
- Overwatch: If D.Va is doing well, she might shout "Boomshakalaka, she's on fire!"
- Puzzle Pirates: BoomShackaLacka is a portmanteau of "Boom Shaka Laka" and "Shack". It is the name of the shack on Tigerleaf Mountain.
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure: The catchphrase of the witch doctor Double Trouble is "Boom shock-a-laka!"
- Stray (2022): The achievement "Boom Chat Kalaka" is a portmanteau of "Boom Shaka Laka" and "Chat", the French word for "Cat", and awarded for pushing the basketball into the bucket in the Slums.
- Tak and the Power of Juju: One of the things the jungle warrior Tak might say during combat is "Boom Shakalaka!"
- Wizards and Pigs: One of the rhythm verses the goblins wield is "Boomshakalaka shakalaka shakalaka laka boom!"
- WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game: If the player does well, the commentator Vince McMahon may belt out "Boom-shakalaka!"
Web Animation
- Mighty Magiswords: "Pachydermus Interruptus": Manfish blows up Warriors For Hire headquarters with the written sound effect "BOOM SHAKA LAKA".
Western Animation
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: "Pet Food": To fight off Griffin, a man who was raised by wild animals, Ace rips out his chest hair and swirls over into a downward fist pump dance to which he sings "Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka!"
- The Amazing World of Gumball: "The Name": Nicole's attempt to teach Zach a lesson by beating him goes awry when he wins at being obnoxious. He victoriously exclaims "Boom shakalakalaka laka maka laka crackerjacka flacka ducka clocka hucka boo-yah!"
- American Dad!: "Next of Pin": At the start of an attention span contest between the two of them, Hayley mockingly asks Roger if he's sure he doesn't want to pull out, to which Roger replies that he never pulls out. He emphasizes his innuendo with "Boom Shakalaka!"
- "Big Mouth'': "The Shane Lizard Rises": The Shame Wizard instills Missy with shame over the acne on her back that's been on display for the entire swim class. When he's done, he laughs, and flies off shouting "Boom shakalaka! I'm en fuego!"
- Bob's Burgers: "Can't Buy Me Math": When Jimmy Pesto Jr. makes a strike at the bowling alley, he punches forwards into the air while Zeke congratulates him with a "Boom shakalaka!"
- Boon And Pimento: "Boom Shakalaka": Boon and Pimento play a round of basketball.
- Family Guy: "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea": Peter and his friends declare war on the British over the future of the "The Drunken Clam". They dress up in American Revolution garbs, shake cans of beer to a chant of "Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka", and unleash the beer the direction of the British.
- Fanboy and Chum Chum: "Saving Private Chum Chum": Mr. Mufflin dribbles, jumps, and slam dunks Chum Chum into the drawer shouting "Boom shakalaka!"
- HouseBroken: "Who's Afraid of Boomsday?": No longer worried about Boomsday, Honey shows off her new lifestyle by jumping up to catch a frisbee with ease. She confidently singsongs "Boomshakalaka!" when she lands and segues that into a head bob dance to the right under "Laka-laka!" and that again to the left, repeating "Laka-laka!"
- Jackie Chan Adventures: "The Eighth Door": Valmont's reaction to getting Shendu exorcised is "Whoopee! It's gone! He's gone-gone-GONE! I've got my body back! La di da di da! Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka!" During the "boom shakalakalaka" bits, he punches forwards into the air.
- Little Demon: "Domestic Disturbance VIII": Bennigan's and Darlene's conversation on how to help Laura and Chrissy gets rudely interrupted by Satan announcing himself with the words "Boom shakalaka, you trick-ass hoes! Daddy's here."
- Little Dracula: "Little D's Surprise": The singing zombies in Dracula's yard sing "Boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka boom shakalakalaka".
- The Looney Tunes Show: "Members Only": Marvin ends his song "I'm a Martian!" with "Boom shakalaka! I'm a Martian! Shakalaka boom!" During "Boom shakalaka!", a sexy female alien is dancing. During "Shakalaka boom!", Marvin blows up Earth.
- Maya and the Three: "The Sun and the Moon": Rico, wielding a huge stone mecha, shouts "Boom shakalaka!" as he punches Mictlan.
- Regular Show:
- "Temp Check": Mordecai and Doug win a game of basketball against Mucle Man and Hi Five Ghost. Doug lets out a victorious "Boom shakalaka!"
- "Slam Dunk": Muscle Man plays a game of basketball against Hi Five Ghost and throws the ball through the hoop, punctuating the moment by shouting "Boom shakalaka!"
- Robot Chicken: "Major League of Extraordinary Gentlemen": Sarah Gellar function in the special credits is "BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA".
- The Simpsons:
- "Kamp Krustier": Bart has a Front of the Line Therapy Pass for Half-Dozen Flags, which he shows off to Lisa while teasingly saying "Boom shakalaka!"
- "From Russia Without Love": Kirk Van Houten ends his explanation that he's been reading Milhouse divorce decrees as bedtime stories with "Boom shakalaka!" because Milhouse has learned from it.
- Teenage Euthanasia: "Dada M.I.A.": While playing "Daddy, It's Me!" Florida Edition, Trophy throws the dice under a "Boom shakalaka" for success.
Wrestling
- Enzo and Cass: Enzo's finishing move is a Fastball Special done from the top rope that has come to be called Bada Boom Shakalaka, a portmanteau of "(Bada Bing,) Bada Boom" and "Boom Shakalaka".
Real Life
- Brian Wheeler, the radio announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers, had "Boom shakalaka!" as a catchphrase as part of his energetic performance.