Rebel MC
Rebel MC | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Alec Anthony West |
Also known as |
|
Born | Islington, London, England | 27 August 1964
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Years active | 1980s–present |
Labels | |
Website | congonatty |
Michael Alec Anthony West (born 27 August 1964 in
Biography
In the late 1980s, West formed the
.In 1991, West released his second album, Black Meaning Good, which combined his former hip house and
His third album, Word, Sound and Power, released in 1992, was a further exploration of mixing up breakbeat hardcore, house, roots reggae, dubwise, and hip hop, with two singles "Rich Ah Getting Richer" and "I Can't Get No Sleep" released from it.[2] "Rich Ah Getting Richer" was built on melodies and samples from Twinkle Brothers "Jahovia", Junior Byles and King Tubby's'"Fade Away" as well as Junior Delgado's "Tichion." On the same album he built tracks around samples and melodies from Yabby You, Lincoln Thompson and the Royal Rasses ("Humanity") and Burning Spear's "Creation Rebel."
Whilst West was enjoying further commercial success with "Tribal Base" featuring Barrington Levy and Tenor Fly, he was also experimenting with white label releases on his X Project label.[2] 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 jungle.[6]
West is often noted for having popularised the term "jungle". In the book Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds, MC Navigator of Kool FM 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'".[7]
In 1994, West converted to
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.[8]
Discography
Albums
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [10] |
AUS [11] |
NLD [12] |
NZ [13] |
SWE [14] | ||
Rebel Music |
|
18 | 98 | 54 | 9 | 40 |
Black Meaning Good |
|
23 | — | — | — | — |
Word, Sound and Power |
|
— | — | — | — | — |
Tribute to Haile Selassie I |
|
— | — | — | — | — |
Born Again |
|
— | — | — | — | — |
Jungle Revolution |
|
— | — | — | — | — |
Ancestorz [Rootz of Jungle] |
|
— | — | — | — | — |
Compilations
- Most Wanted (Congo Natty, 2008)
Singles
As Rebel MC
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK
[10] |
AUS [11][15] |
BEL (FL) [16] |
NLD [12] |
NZ [13] |
SWE [14] | |||
"Just Keep Rockin'" (with Double Trouble) |
1989 | 11 | — | 14 | 3 | — | — | Rebel Music |
"Street Tuff" (with Double Trouble) |
3 | 85 | 7 | 3 | 29 | 12 | ||
"Better World" | 20 | 131 | 22 | 14 | 4 | — | ||
"Rebel Music" | 1990 | 53 | 155 | — | 84 | 15 | — | |
"Culture"/"Comin' On Strong" | 90 | — | — | — | — | — | Black Meaning Good | |
"The Wickedest Sound" (featuring Tenor Fly) |
1991 | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Tribal Base" (featuring Tenor Fly and Barrington Levy) |
20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Black Meaning Good" | 1992 | 73 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Rich Ah Getting Richer" | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | Word, Sound and Power | |
"Word, Sound and Power" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Humanity"/"I Can't Get No Sleep" | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Under Me Sensi" (with Barrington Levy) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | Barrington |
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" (X Project, 1993)
- "Code Red" (as Conquering Lion) (X Project/Mango, 1994)
- "Champion DJ" (as Blackstar with Top Cat) (Congo Natty, 1994)
- "Junglist" (as Tribe of Issachar) (Congo Natty, 1995)
- "Jah Set It" (as Lion of Judah) (Congo Natty, 1996)
- "Emperor Selassie I" (as Lion of Judah) (Congo Natty, 1997)
References
- ^ Rebel MC - Biography & History AllMusic
- ^ ISBN 0-7535-0252-6.
- ^ "street tuff | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
- ^ Ben Beaumont-Thomas (4 July 2013). "Congo Natty and the jungle revolution". The Guardian.
- ^ Matt Jost (16 October 2012). "Rebel MC : Black Meaning Good :: Desire Records". Rapreviews.com.
- ^ a b "History Sessions: Congo Natty Special (1992 – 1998)". Abasschronicle.co.uk. 11 January 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-330-45420-9, p. 245
- ^ a b Joe Clay (11 July 2013). "I've Got Souls To Save: An Interview With Congo Natty". TheQuietus.
- ^ Charlie Jones (18 September 2012). "The 10 best jungle tracks, according to Uncle Dugs". Dummymag.com.
- ^ a b "Rebel MC | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ a b Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 230.
- ^ a b "Discografie Rebel MC". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ a b "Discography Rebel MC". charts.nz. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ a b "Discography Rebel MC". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ "ARIA chart history 1988 to 2022, received from ARIA in 2022". ARIA. Retrieved 2 December 2023 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
- ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Just Keep Rockin'" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
External links
- Official website
- Rebel MC at Discogs.com
- Congo Natty at Discogs.com
- Rebel MC at Heroes of Hip-Hop