JAMAICAN dancehall group T.O.K is setting an example for their peers, by omitting divisive songs, such as “Chi Chi Man” from their performances.

Performing at the recent Reggae On The Beach held at Artistry Beach, Bay Street, St Michael on Monday, May 1, the group refrained from performing one of their most popular songs, “Chi Chi Man”, making a statement that they are about promoting unity and not separation.

Although hosts Infamous The Voice and Jordan English with the help of the crowd begged for the 2001 hit, the group remained unfazed and concrete with their decision.

Speaking to Loop Entertainment, following their stellar performance which included many of their other hits like Money To Burn, She’s Hot, Gal You Ah Lead, Footprints and Shake Yuh Bam Bam, the group revealed what led to the decision.

“Basically ‘Chi Chi Man’ is like a gift and a curse. It’s a great record that means so much to so many people from just the love of the music but for some people it’s offensive as well. And because we feel like the music should really unite people, we’ve made a decision to not perform the song, because we don’t want to offend any of our fans,” Roshaun ‘Bay C’ Clarke said on behalf of the group.

Also speaking on behalf of his bandmates, Alistaire ‘Alex’ McCalla professed that they definitely felt the love from Barbadians, although this was their first performance in the island for over a decade.

“It was a good vibes! It was nice energy! Everytime we come to Barbados, we always feel love that the people dem show we. It’s over 10 years that we’ve been here.”

“So T.O.K we’ve been through a lot. We had a moment of a hiatus where we were doing individual stuff but we’re back now as a group; we have a record called No Place Like Home and it’s very ironic and very poetic for us to be here because Barbados is like a home. It’s almost like a reunion with our fans and introduction to new fans,” Craig ‘Craigy T’ Thompson interjected.

He also revealed that the group would be open to bookings for the upcoming Crop Over Season.

“We’re very happy to be here and very happy to receive the love from the people and we hope to be back soon again maybe for Crop Over.”

The four-man group was unfortunately missing one of their members, Xavier “Flex” Davidson, who was unable to attend, but Thompson professed that they would still be “representing” for him.

“Even though Flex isn’t here we’re still representing for him.” (Loop Entertainment)