Rhyging
 |
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| Rhyging | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ivanhoe Martin 1924 Jamaica |
| Died | 9 September 1948 Lime Cay, Jamaica |
| Charge(s) | Robbery |
Ivanhoe "Rhyging" Martin was a Jamaican outlaw and folk hero who died at age 24 of gunshot wounds sustained during a shootout with police officers on 9 September 1948, in Lime Cay, Jamaica. Rhyging is regarded as the initial rudeboy.[citation needed]
Often alluded to historically as the "Jamaican Dillinger",[by whom?] Martin managed to escape from prison, elude a massive dragnet, and live a life of crime for years with the help of the Jamaican public before his last stand at Lime Cay.
The term rhyging is a Jamaican patois word meaning wild, hot, or bad. Martin was nicknamed this by the locals due to his flamboyant criminal activities.
Rhyging's acts made him a folk hero for the poverty-stricken residents of the Jamaican ghettos of the 1940s. Ska musician Jimmy Cliff referred to him as a sort of Jamaican Robin Hood, who was "very much on the side of the people".[citation needed]
Rhyging continues to play a role in Jamaican culture as a duppy (bogeyman) used to scare children.
[edit] Cultural references
- Martin inspired the 1972 film The Harder They Come starring Jimmy Cliff as Ivan Martin and directed by Perry Henzell.[1]
- He is also mentioned by the band The Clash in the song "The Guns of Brixton" off the 1979 album release London Calling.
[edit] Sources
- Lloyd Bradley, Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King, 2001 for the UK version, Penguin Books Ltd, UK, ISBN 0-14-023763-1
[edit] References
- ^ "Perry Henzell, 70, Filmmaker of ‘The Harder They Come,’ Dies". The New York Times. 5 December 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/obituaries/05henzell.html. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
