The '80s popster turned proto-jungle revolutionary was born
Michael West in 1965 in London. He formed Double Trouble in the early '80s with Michael Menson and
Leigh Guest, releasing the ska-pop hit "Street Tuff."
Rebel MC later gained fame in England as a pop-rapper, but by 1991 he had released Black Meaning Good, an album that presaged jungle with hardcore techno married to dub basslines and ragga toasters such as
Barrington Levy and
P.P. Arnold. His 1992 singles "Rich Ah Getting Richer" and "Humanity" also showed the new direction. "Code Red" -- released as
Conquering Lion -- became an outright jungle smash in 1994, bringing the jungle movement to the British masses. He would disappear off the record shelves until 2004 when he dropped the single "Junglist" under the name
Rebel MC, with the
Congo Natty album Born Again following in 2005. His remix of the
Nas and Damian Marley single "Land of Promise" landed in 2010, then the
Jungle Revolution album appeared in 2013. A dub version, simply titled
Jungle Revolution in Dub followed two years later with remixes from
Adrian Sherwood,
Mungo's Hi-Fi,
DJ Madd, and others. ~ John Bush