Rebel MC Biography

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.