'Tonga' means woman - Joey B

Whether or not the lyrics of Joey B's 'Tonga' hit song is sexually explicit is a controversy that seems not to go away, forcing the musician to explain for the umpteenth time that his song is a decent one.

"Tonga is a Twi word. It is not official but it is a Twi jargon and it means woman... it is not profane and does not have anything that is sexually suggestive. But it depends on your mind. For example if I say my pussy is wet, I may be talking about my pussy cat that is wet with water but someone may think about something else," Joey B noted on NEAT FM's Entertainment Ghana.

The musician insisted that if his song was sexually suggestive, there was no way it  would have earned six nominations for this year's Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs).

Since Charter House - organizers of the VGMAs - included the 'Tonga' song in their nomi­nation list for this year's edition, there  have been several  debates among the general public and pundits as to whether the song merits the nomination.

But speaking to Akwasi Aboagye on NEAT Em's Entertainment Ghana, Joey B explained that 'Tonga' is a Twi jargon which only means 'woman'.

"I studied English in school and I know my way around words. There is something in English called innuendoes, which is like playing around with words. Tonga is a Twi word. I heard it from one of our local movies. Like how we use the word 'kala' in Twi which means woman or girl, 'Tonga' means the same," Joey B stated.

According to him, "If everybody sings about a woman and uses the word 'woman', and I can do it differently by spicing it up with the word, 'Tonga' then I think I'm being creative."

"So basically the 'Tonga' song is about a woman. The word 'Tonga' only means woman," he added.

Joey B, also known as Darryl Bannerman- Martin has been around the entertainment circles for close to three years with three hit singles - 'Strawberry Ginger', 'Cigarette' and 'Tonga'.

He has been nominated for the New Artiste of the Year, Hiplife/Hip-Hop Artiste of the Year, Vodafone Song of the Year and Hiplife Song of the Year categories in the 15th edition of the VGMAs.