boomshakalaka

Boomshakalaka may have roots in the 1969 song “I Want to Take You Higher” by Sly and the Family Stone. The song includes the funky and sexy nonsense vocables boom-laka-laka-laka.

In cover versions of the song, other artists, such as by Tina Turner, sang boom-laka-laka-laka as boom-shaka-laka-laka.

The 1981 military comedy film Stripes includes a scene where Bill Murray’s character, John Winger, trains soldiers in song and dance rather than drills. The soldiers dance while chanting boomshakalaka, a possible reference to popular versions of “I Want to Take You Higher.”

The boomshakalaka from Stripes inspired its most noted use, in basketball. In the 1993 video game NBA Jam, the in-game commentator, voiced by Tim Kitzrow, uses over-the-top exclamations for big plays, especially boomshakalaka for powerful slam dunks.

Kitzrow later attributed his boomshakalaka to one of NBA Jam‘s scriptwriters, who apparently watched Stripes during production of the game. The game developers loved Kitzrow’s enthusiastic delivery of the expression. They also found it to be the perfect onomatopoeia for a slam dunk, with the boom representing the ball going through the rim and the shakalaka the rim rattling afterwards.

NBA Jam went on to become a very successful video game franchise—and influential, given that its signature boomshakalaka was taken up by the wider basketball community come the 2000s, from broadcasters to fans.