Michael Alec Anthony West (born 27 August 1964 in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England), better known as Rebel MC and Congo Natty, is a British

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

producer, spiritual

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of no ...

er and

toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, o ...

. He has also gone by aliases including Conquering Lion, Blackstar, Tribe of

Issachar Issachar () was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fifth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's ninth son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Issachar. However, some Biblical criticism, Biblical scholars view this as ...

Lion of Judah The Lion of Judah (, ) is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the tribe of Judah. The association between the Judahites and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to his fourth son ...

, X Project and Ras Project.

Biography

In the late 1980s, West formed the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Double Trouble with Michael Menson, Karl Brown (more commonly known as the

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

DJ Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown) and Leigh Guest. This would lead to two

hip house Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip-hop, which originated in both London and Chicago in the mid-to-late 1980s. A British collaboration between the electronic group Beatm ...

records reaching the UK

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

in 1989 - "Just Keep Rockin'" followed by " Street Tuff". The latter reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. These would appear shortly after on his debut album '' Rebel Music''. In 1991, West released his second album, ''Black Meaning Good'', which combined his former hip house and

pop-rap Pop rap (also known as pop hip-hop, pop hop, hip pop, melodic hip-hop or melodic rap) is a genre of music fusing the rhythm-based lyricism of hip hop with pop's preference for melodic vocals, catchy hooks, and positive lyrics on pop-like p ...

influences with radical political, spiritual consciousness and a stronger

roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...

, dubwise and

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

edge. The album featured notable reggae and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

artists such as

Barrington Levy Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist from Clarendon, Jamaica. Career In 1977, Levy formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bla ...

, Tenor Fly and

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of l ...

. Singles released from the album included "The Wickedest Sound", "Comin' On Strong", and "Tribal Base" - to which their breakbeat hardcore and

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

would give rise to an early precursor to the

sound. His third album ''Word, Sound and Power'' (released in 1992) represented further exploration of increasingly politicised awareness, breakbeat hardcore,

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, conscious spiritual

, dubwise, and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, with two singles "Rich Ah Getting Richer" and "I Can't Get No Sleep" released from it. "Rich Ah Getting Richer" was built on melodies and samples from Twinkle Brothers " Jahovia", Junior Byles and

King Tubby Osbourne Ruddock (28 January 1941 – 6 February 1989), better known as King Tubby, was a Jamaican sound engineer who influenced the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s. Tubby's studio work, in which as a mixing engineer he achiev ...

's'"Fade Away" as well as Junior Delgado's "Tichion." The track "Jahovia" samples the keyboard hook from the sound system favourite, "Kunta Kinte". Kunta Kinte, the film character from

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and ...

's book "Roots" inspired a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

riddim In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the ''riddim'' plus the ''voicing'' (vocal part) sung by the deeja ...

of the same name, which started off life as a track called ''Beware Of Your Enemies'' released from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

's Channel One. A dub version, put out in 1976 by Channel One

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

The Revolutionaries became a

sound system Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

anthem for many years on dubplate, and inspired a UK version produced by

Mad Professor Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a British dub music producer, engineer and remixer. He has collaborated with reggae artists Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, ...

in 1981. The track inspired Rebel MC and other

covers. On ''Word, Sound and Power'' Rebel MC also built tracks around samples and melodies from Yabby You, Lincoln Thompson and the Royal Rasses ("Humanity") and

Burning Spear Winston Rodney Order of Distinction, OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian movement, Rastafarian and one of the ...

's "Creation Rebel." The track "African" samples Lloyd Coxsone’s ''King of the Dub Rock part two'', and Johnny Clarke’s vocals from

Bunny Lee Edward O'Sullivan Lee OD (23 August 1941 – 6 October 2020), better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee, was a Jamaican record producer. He was known as a pioneer of the United Kingdom reggae market, licensing his productions to Trojan Records i ...

productions. The album track “Revolution” is largely based on

’s track of the same name. Whilst West was enjoying further commercial success with "Tribal Base" featuring

and Tenor Fly, he was also experimenting with

white label White label may refer to: * White-label product, a permitted replication and rebranding of a product * White label record, records with plain white labels attached. * White Label Music, an independent record label based in the United Kingdom * ''Wh ...

releases on his X Project label. The first of these would be "Walking in the Air" (which contains samples from '' The Snowman'' track), followed by a further five releases which by this time were

. West is often noted for having popularised the term "jungle". In the book '' Energy Flash'' by

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture. Reynold ...

, MC Navigator of

Kool FM Kool FM, also known as Kool London, is a former London pirate radio station that now broadcasts on DAB and online, playing jungle, drum and bass, and old skool. Kool is generally regarded as being instrumental in the development of the jung ...

is quoted as saying: "Rebel got this chant - 'all the junglists' - from a yard-tape" (referring to the

tapes from

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

). "When Rebel sampled that, the people cottoned on, and soon they started to call the music 'jungle'". In 1994, West converted to

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

. As Conquering Lion, he would release a classic jungle track "Code Red", with vocals from Super Cat. This was picked up for major release by

Mango Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

, which was followed by "Champion DJ" (featuring Top Cat) and "Junglist" (featuring Peter Bouncer), both released on his Congo Natty label that would be prolific in the mid-1990s to early 2000s. In 2013, West returned with the album '' Jungle Revolution'', featuring Jah Shaka's son, Young Warrior, General Levy, Top Cat, Tippa Irie, Tenor Fly, and Nãnci Correia.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

* ''Most Wanted'' (Congo Natty, 2008)

Singles

As Rebel MC

As X Project, Lion of Judah et al

* "Walking in the Air" (X Project, 1992) * "The Calling"/" Jah Sunshine" (X Project, 1993) * "Inahsound"/"

" (X Project, 1993) * "Code Red" (as Conquering Lion) (X Project/Mango, 1994) * "Champion DJ" (as Blackstar with

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season ...

) (Congo Natty, 1994) * "Junglist" (as Tribe of

) (Congo Natty, 1995) * " Jah Set It" (as

) (Congo Natty, 1996) * "Emperor Selassie I" (as

) (Congo Natty, 1997)

References

External links

Official website

Rebel MC
at

Discogs.com Discogs ( ; short for "discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''The N ...

Congo Natty
at

Rebel MC at Heroes of Hip-Hop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebel MC 1964 births Living people English drum and bass musicians English male singers English record producers Hip house musicians Jungle musicians Singers from the London Borough of Islington Military personnel from the London Borough of Islington People from Islington (district) Big Dada artists Ninja Tune artists