Craigy T Says T.O.K.’s ‘Chi Chi Man’ Was ‘Iron Balloon’ For Three Years Before Becoming Monster Hit

Dancehall group T.O.K.’s controversial classic Chi Chi Man, remained an ‘iron balloon’ for three years, rejected by numerous sound system selectors, before becoming a monster hit in Jamaica, making the group into a household name.

Former member of the now-dissolved group Craig “Craigy T” Thompson, made the revelation about the 2001 song during a recent interview with host Muscle, on the Canadian Entertainment Report Podcast.

Craigy T relayed the sequence of events including the disappointments, which led to the Tony Kelly-produced song becoming an anthem in the music space.

He said during one of the group’s regular trips to New York they each took a box load of records with the intention to give a copy of the track to every sound system selector in order to push the song.

However they were in for a rude awakening, and much embarrassment, as many of the selectors flatly said the song was whack and even-handed back the record to them.

“You have people who used to gi wi back di record and seh ‘yow, a f__kery dis.   Like dem a seh ‘dis naw guh buss’ an gi wi back.  Now imagine now, how it feel fi somebaddy gi yuh back a 45 weh free enuh.    Even if dem naw guh play it, but jus teck it as encouragement.   Dem seh ‘dis naw guh meck it’ an ‘dis nuh sound good’,” Craigy T said.

“An den 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.    An, dis a even before dem teck it fi politics, becaw yuh know a did di campaign song fi JLP.  But even before dat, it was a monster,” he emphasized.

According to Craigy T, who recently featured on the 12 Days of Christmas track with Shaggy and Beenie Man, the success of the song was due in part to its Revivalist/Pocomania-sounding riddim, infectious melody and hook, which is similar to the Christmas song Do you see What I See.

It also did not escape the ears of the then leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Edward Seaga, who was well-known for his connections with and affinity to the Revivalist movement.

“Dat was like one Seaga song.  Him did love dah song deh.  Him tell mi dat personally… I guess becaw it have dat Poco vibe, becaw rememba seh Seaga a music man enuh.   Suh becaw it have dat likkle Revivalist sound deh, da likkle way how di drums beat, and di way how wi chant pon it, is like people nuh really realize seh is Poco enuh.    It talk deeply to the black soul; the black spirit, so that is why it move wi di way it move.  It was infectious enuh,” he explained.

Seaga used the song in the JLP’s election campaign which irritated People’s National Party (PNP) supporters who accused Seaga of aiming the song at their leader and Prime Minister at the time, PJ Patterson in a bid to tarnish his image.

Craigy T could not hold back his laughter as he relayed an encounter with Patterson, during a trip to the United States, when he approached the then Prime Minister to explain that TOK had nothing to do with the song being used by others to ridicule him.

“There was a while when PJ neva did like wi at all,” the singer said amidst chuckles.

“We saw him in Washington and mi seh:  ‘Missa Patterson, really enuh, a neva you wi a talk,’ an him laugh and seh: ‘ha, ha, ha, I know man’.”

He said following the use of the song in the political campaign, things got a “bit ugly” and “started spilling over to different places and different sectors”, something he and his colleagues, only 23 years old at the time, could not fathom.

“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 nat even know a wha name Nazi,” he said laughing.

The T.O.K. quartet was made up of Craigy T, Xavier “Flexx” Davidson, Alistaire “Alex” McCalla, and Roshaun “Bay-C” Clarke.

Alex, Bay-C and Craigy T, all attended Campion College and were members of their school’s choir, while Flexx attended Calabar High School.  Originally, the acronym T.O.K. stood for Touch of Klass.

They started out singing versions of Boyz II Men songs, and at first sounded a lot like the American group but transformed into their own unique sound, which was a blend of hardcore Dancehall with R&B harmonies and Hip Hop.

Apart from Chi Chi Man, among their biggest hits are Eagle’s Cry, Gal Yuh Ah Lead, Hands In The Air, Money 2 Burn, Shake Your Bam Bam, and Top A Tappa.

In October 2015 the group split after Flexx decided to pursue a solo career.  At the time Bay C told the Jamaica Observer that there had been tension within the camp for the last eight years and that the group had been slowly imploding.

“There have been personality clashes. Craig has a very strong personality and usually says what is on his mind. Alex and Flexx have been friends forever, so they have stuck together, which has left me to always be maintaining the balance in the group,” he had told the newspaper.