In the late 1980s, Rebel MC formed the group Double Trouble Michael Menson, Karl Brown (UK garage DJ Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown) and Leigh Guest. The smash hit singles “Just Keep Rockin'” followed by “Street Tuff” dropped a brand new hip house sound on an unsuspecting public. Both top 40 UK hits in 1989 – Street Tuff makes number 3 in the main UK charts. Both appear on Rebel’s debut album Rebel Music.
In 1991, Rebel releases album #2, Black Meaning Good, which combines former hip house and pop-rap influences with strong reggae and breakbeat edge. The album features reggae & dancehall artists such as Barrington Levy, Tenor Fly and Dennis Brown. Singles released from the album included “The Wickedest Sound” “Comin’ On Strong” & “Tribal Base” – to which their breakbeat hardcore and reggae fusion giving rise to an early precursor to the jungle sound.
Rebel is often noted for having popularised the term “jungle”. MC Navigator of Kool FM: “Rebel got this chant – ‘all the junglists’ – from a yard-tape” (Jamaican sound system tapes). “When Rebel sampled that, the people cottoned on, and soon they started to call the music ‘jungle'”.
LATE 2020 – We’ve painstakingly remastered the whole catalogue (apart from his existing releases on Ninja) and they are now (work in progress with some rarer releases) available fan-direct on Bandcamp, all leading Digital download stores and all Streaming platforms worldwide.