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Chi Chi Man Will No Longer Be In Performance Catalogue; T.O.K Announce

As society keeps getting more and more sensitive, we may just have to deal with the fact that some of the legendary tracks will no longer be played in public as they seem ‘offensive’. This time, legendary dancehall group T.O.K has decided to delist the track from their performance catalogue as the Gay and Lesbian Community will definitely frown upon it. 

In Jamaican slang, gay or effeminate men are referred to as “Chi Chi Man,” an offensive phrase. The song by T.O.K., which was first published in 2000, is no longer available to stream, however, there are still unofficial uploads of it on YouTube.

Visitors to the Reggae Beach Party event, which recently took place at the popular Artistry Beach in St. Michael, Barbados, received a first-hand glimpse at an extended T.O.K. set without the inclusion of the song that is popular with the crowd, Chi Chi Man.

T.O.K. refused to perform the song, despite persistent encouragement from fans and the event hosts, Infamous The Voice and Jordan English, and instead chose to keep the party going with other of their classics, including Shake Yuh Bam Bam, Footprints, Money To Burn, She’s Hot, and Gyal You A Lead.

Roshaun ‘Bay C’ Clarke spoke with Loop Barbados on the group’s decision to stop performing the song, Roshaun ‘Bay C’ Clarke spoke with Loop Barbados on the group’s decision to stop performing the song.

In 2020, Craig ‘Craigy T’ Thompson described the classic as an ‘iron balloon’, and revealed during an interview with the Canadian Entertainment Report Podcast that the song was initially scorned by sound selectors.

“You have people who used to gi wi back di record and seh ‘yow, a f@#$%@y dis,” he explained.  “Like dem a seh ‘Dis nah guh buss’, an’ gi wi back.  Now imagine now, how it feel fi somebody gi yuh back a 45 weh free enuh. Even if dem nah guh play it, but jus tek it as encouragement. Dem seh ‘Dis nah guh mek it’ an ‘Dis nuh sound good”.

After some time, the Chi Chi Man song began to pick up traction in Jamaica.

“…It just start pick up inna di streets a Jamaica likkle by likkle. And before you know it, we lef go do three shows somewhere and when we came back, it was monster. Monster. And dis a even before dem tek it fi politics, becaw yuh know a did di campaign song fi JLP. But even before dat, it was a monster,” shared Craigy T.

Craigy T added, “We were so young.  So it wasn’t a situation like we were this militant group who were against this or whatever.  It was nothing like that.  But that’s the image that they were painting.  I remember there was a publication one time that even referred to us as the ‘New Neo-Nazi’ movement.  Dem time deh mi not even know a wha name Nazi.”

The song’s popularity with Edward Seaga, the former leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, who apparently enjoyed the song’s Revivalist/Pocomania vibe, helped propel it even farther into the national spotlight. Later, he would incorporate the song into a divisive political campaign.

A petition started by the Stop Murder Music campaign in 2007 to “renounce homophobia and excise lyrics promoting violence against gay people” included T.O.K. as one of its targets. More precisely, Peter Tatchell, a gay rights activist, cited the group as one of those influential organizations that have not yet signed the act.

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