Posts tagged ruff

Michael West better known under the aliases Conquering Lion, Congo Natty, Rebel MC, Tribe Of Issachar, X Project, Ras Project is a jungle producer and toaster. “Conquering Lion” is an abbreviation for “The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah”, one of emperor Haile Selassie’s many titles.

In the early 1980s, West formed the group Double Trouble with the now deceased Michael Menson, Karl Brown (more commonly known as the UK garage DJ Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown) and Leigh Guest; and released the single “Just Keep Rockin” on the Desire record label in 1989 as Double Trouble and Rebel MC. The single was a UK Top 20 hit, and the follow-up “Street Tuff” (1989) was his biggest success, reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart.

Because of the style and content of these releases, West was often dismissed by a British hip hop community, distrustful of pop success and “selling out”. The release of his first album Rebel Music (Desire, 1990) did little to change their views. This album included the popular dance track “Better World”.

This was soon to change, however, as West used the money he had made from his pop successes to record his second album. Black Meaning Good (Desire, 1991) was a complete change of style for West, mixing his former pop-rap influences with reggae, hip hop, dance and the emerging jungle styles. The album featured ragga notables like Barrington Levy, Tenor Fly and Dennis Brown singing and toasting on top of reggae-house music rhythms