Rude boy
Encyclopedia
Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi or rudy are common terms used in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. In the 1960s it was also used for juvenile delinquents and criminals in Jamaica, and has since been used in other contexts. During the late-1970s 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...

 ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 revival in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the terms rude boy, rude girl and other variations were often used to describe fans of that genre, and this new definition continued to be used in the third wave ska subculture. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in the 2000s, the terms rude boy and rude girl have become slang which mainly refer to people (largely youths) who are involved in street culture, similar to gangsta
Gangsta
Gangsta may refer to:* Gangsta , a one time member of The Comrads and Hoo-Bangin' Records* Gangster, slang for a member of a gang*Gangsta rap*Hip hop fashion, a style of dress associated with the aforementioned musical genre...

or badman.

Jamaica

The first rude boys in the 1950s were associated with the poorer sections of Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the 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 sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, where ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

, then rocksteady
Rocksteady
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton...

 were the most popular forms of music. They dressed in the latest fashions at dancehalls
Dance Hall (Caribbean)
The dance halls of Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s were home to public dances usually targeted at younger patrons. Sound system operators had big home-made audio systems , spinning records from popular American rhythm and blues musicians and Jamaican ska and rocksteady performers...

 and on the streets. Many of these rude boys started wearing sharp suits, thin ties, and pork pie
Pork pie hat
A pork pie hat is a type of hat made of felt or straw. It is a type of fedora which has a cylindrical crown and flattish top. This style of crown is called a "telescopic crown", but the hat overall resembles the boater hat. It is short and has an indentation all the way around its top, allowing...

 or Trilby
Trilby
A trilby hat is a type of fedora. The trilby is viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is commonly called the "brown trilby" in England and is much seen at the horse races. It is described as a "crumpled" fedora...

 hats; inspired by American gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

 movies, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 musicians and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 artists. In terms of attitude and lifestyle, rude boys were also inspired by American cowboy and gangster outlaw films. In that time period, disaffected unemployed Jamaican youths sometimes found temporary employment from sound system operators to disrupt competitors' dances (leading to the term dancehall crasher). This and other street violence became an integral part of the rude boy lifestyle, and gave rise to a culture of political gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...

 violence in Jamaica. This shift towards violence led to some Jamaican musicians creating songs that spoke directly towards this faction, urging them to become less violent. Starting in the 1970s, Jamaican dancehall
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 style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...

 music was a way for rude boys and those fearful of them to express their views on current events.

United Kingdom

As the Jamaican diaspora
Jamaican diaspora
“Diaspora” means the scattering of people from their ethnic roots, enforced or voluntary. Thus the Jamaican diaspora refers to Jamaicans who have left their traditional homelands, the dispersal of such Jamaicans, and the ensuing developments in their culture...

 grew in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, rude boy music and fashion, as well as the gang mentality, became a strong influence on the skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...

 subculture. In the late 1970s, the image of the rude boy became more popular thanks in part to the 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...

 band The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...

 and the record label 2 Tone Records
2 Tone Records
2 Tone Records was an English record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone.-History:...

.

In more recent times 'rudeboy' is a term that has come to be synonymous with street or 'urban' culture in the UK. For today's youth, the term bears none of its older connotations of ska and skinheads, instead harking back to something more akin to its original Jamaican meaning. In modern multicultural Britain, it is not a term limited by race: black, white and Asian young people alike have been known to adopt this identity. The term rudeboy is notorious for its connotations of criminality, gangs, and drugs, yet it is an identity that has always boasted a rich musical affiliation too, ranging from jungle and drum & bass, to garage, grime and dubstep.

External links

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