It is just part of the normal discourse, almost totally redundant here, like "Yes, I am" which correctly translated into Italian is normally just "Sì". It is just verbal punctuation. Speech is often peppered with it. Both among Jamaicans and in the Geordie semi-dialect which I know well (my parents). A common geordie, you often here "Why aye man" which in ordinary English might mean "Oh yes of course". A tribute to that phrase:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtfMTIBfu3k
In other contexts it is an alternative second person singular pronoun (in Jamaican, and modern hippy slang, not Geordie).