Michael Alec Anthony West (born 27 August 1964 in Islington,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England), better known as Rebel MC and Congo Natty, is a British
jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaá ...
toaster
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast.
Types
Pop-up toaster
In pop-up or automatic toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaste ...
. 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 Israelite Tribe of Issachar. However, some Biblical scholars view this as an eponymous metaphor providing ...
,
Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah ( he, ×ריה יהודה, ) 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 b ...
, 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 ide ...
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, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...
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, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s.
British group the Beatmaster ...
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 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. "Top 40" or "cont ...
in 1989 - "Just Keep Rockin'" followed by " Street Tuff". The latter reached number 3 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. 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, hip pop, melodic hip-hop or melodic rap) is a genre of music fusing the rhythm-based lyricism of hip hop music with pop music's preference for melodious vocals and catchy tunes. This genre gained mainstrea ...
influences with a stronger
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and breakbeat edge. The album featured notable reggae and dancehall artists such as
Barrington Levy
Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist.
Career
Levy was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bl ...
,
Tenor Fly
Jonathan Sutter (7 July 1967 – 17 June 2016), better known by his stage name Tenor Fly, was a British singer and rapper. He rose to prominence in the ragga movement of the early 1990s.
Sutter was a solo artist and later a member of Freestyle ...
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 lo ...
. Singles released from the album included "The Wickedest Sound", "Comin' On Strong", and "Tribal Base" - to which their
breakbeat hardcore
Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave or oldskool hardcore) is a music genre of the very early 1990s that spawned from the UK rave scene. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In ad ...
and
reggae fusion
Reggae fusion is a genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin.
Origin
Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as ...
would give rise to an early precursor to the
jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaá ...
sound.
His third album, ''Word, Sound and Power'', released in 1992, was a further exploration of mixing up breakbeat hardcore, house, reggae and hip hop, 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
Kenneth Byles (born 2 February 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica), also known as "Junior Byles", "Chubby", or "King Chubby", is a Jamaican reggae singer.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books,
Biography
The Versatiles
Nam ...
and
King Tubby
Osbourne Ruddock (28 January 1941 – 6 February 1989), better known as King Tubby, was a Jamaican sound engineer who greatly influenced the development of dub in the 1960s and 1970s.
Tubby's innovative studio work, which saw him elevate the ...
's'"Fade Away" as well as Junior Delgado's "Tichion." On the same album he built tracks around samples and melodies from
Yabby You
Vivian Jackson (14 August 1946 – 12 January 2010), better known as Yabby You (or sometimes Yabby U), was a reggae vocalist and producer, who came to prominence in the early 1970s through his uncompromising, self-produced work.
Biography
Jac ...
,
Lincoln Thompson
Prince Lincoln Thompson, known as Sax (10 July 1949 ''
...
and the Royal Rasses ("Humanity") and
Burning Spear
Winston Rodney 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 and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ...
's "Creation Rebel."
Whilst West was enjoying further commercial success with "Tribal Base" featuring
Barrington Levy
Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist.
Career
Levy was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bl ...
and
Tenor Fly
Jonathan Sutter (7 July 1967 – 17 June 2016), better known by his stage name Tenor Fly, was a British singer and rapper. He rose to prominence in the ragga movement of the early 1990s.
Sutter was a solo artist and later a member of Freestyle ...
, he was also experimenting with
white label
A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels.
Test pressings
Test pressings, usua ...
releases on his X Project label. The first of these would be "Walking in the Air" (which contains samples from ''
The Snowman
''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book '' The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It ...
'' track), followed by a further five releases which by this time were
jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaá ...
.
West is often noted for having popularised the term "jungle". In the book '' Energy Flash'' by Simon Reynolds, MC Navigator of
Kool FM
Kool London, also known as Kool FM, is a former London pirate radio station that now broadcasts as an internet radio station, playing jungle, drum and bass, and old skool. Kool is generally regarded as being instrumental in the development ...
is quoted as saying: "Rebel got this chant - 'all the junglists' - from a yard-tape" (referring to the sound system tapes from Kingston, Jamaica). "When Rebel sampled that, the people cottoned on, and soon they started to call the music 'jungle'".
In 1994, West converted to Rastafari. As Conquering Lion, he would release a classic jungle track "Code Red", with vocals from
Super Cat
William Anthony Maragh (born 25 June 1963),Huey, Steve " Super Cat Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 18 July 2010 also known as Super Cat, is a Jamaican deejay who achieved widespread popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s dancehall mo ...
. This was picked up for major release by Mango Records. This was then followed by the equally massive "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
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaá ...
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
'', featuring the likes of
General Levy
Paul Scott Levy (born 28 April 1971), also known as General Levy, is an English ragga deejay, regularly employed on studio tracks by drum and bass DJs. He is best known for the track "Incredible" which he recorded with M-Beat. A remixed versio ...
,
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 of ...
,
Tippa Irie
Tippa Irie (born Anthony Henry, 1965, London, England) is a British reggae singer and DJ from Brixton, South London. He first came to prominence in the early 1980s as an MC on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International.
He fir ...
,
Tenor Fly
Jonathan Sutter (7 July 1967 – 17 June 2016), better known by his stage name Tenor Fly, was a British singer and rapper. He rose to prominence in the ragga movement of the early 1990s.
Sutter was a solo artist and later a member of Freestyle ...
, and Nanci 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"/"
Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah ( he, ×ריה יהודה, ) 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 b ...
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 of ...
) (Congo Natty, 1994)
* "Junglist" (as 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 Israelite Tribe of Issachar. However, some Biblical scholars view this as an eponymous metaphor providing ...
) (Congo Natty, 1995)
* "Jah Set It" (as
Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah ( he, ×ריה יהודה, ) 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 b ...
) (Congo Natty, 1996)
* "Emperor Sellasie I" (as
Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah ( he, ×ריה יהודה, ) 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 b ...