Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi, and rudy are slang terms that originated in 1960s Jamaican street culture, and that are still used today. In the late 1970s, the 2 toneska revival in England saw the terms rude boy and rude girl, among other variations, being used to describe fans of that genre. This use of the word moved into the more contemporary ska punk movement as well. In the UK, the terms rude boy and rude girl are used in a similar way to gangsta or badman.
The rude boy subculture arose from the poorer sections of Kingston, Jamaica, and was associated with violent discontented youths. Along with ska and rocksteady music, many rude boys favored sharp suits, thin ties, and pork pie or Trilby hats, showing an influence of the fashions of American jazz musicians and soul music artists. American cowboy and gangster/outlaw films from that period were also influential factors in shaping the rude boy image, as scholars like Rob Wilson, Christopher Leigh Connory, and Deborah A. Thomas have shown. In that time period, unemployed Jamaican youths sometimes found temporary employment from sound system operators to disrupt competitors' dances. The violence that sometimes occurred at dances and its association with the rude boy lifestyle gave rise to a slew of releases by artists who addressed the rude boys directly with lyrics that either promoted or rejected rude boy violence. Starting in the 1970s, Jamaican reggae music replaced the ska and rocksteady music associated with the rude boys. In the 1980s, dancehall became the main Jamaican popular music genre, drawing some parallels with the earlier rude boys in its culture and lyrical content.
In the 1960s, the Jamaican diaspora introduced rude boy music and fashion to the United Kingdom, which influenced the mod and skinhead subcultures. In the late 1970s, the term rude boy and rude boy fashions came back into use after the 2 tone band the Specials and their record label2 Tone Records instigated a brief but influential ska revival. In this spirit, the Clash contributed "Rudie Can't Fail" on their 1979 album, London Calling. In more recent times in multicultural Britain, the term rudeboy has become associated with street or urban culture, and is a common greeting. The term rudeboy has become associated with music genres such as ragga, jungle, drum and bass, UK garage, and grime – although is still used by many ska and Ska Punk bands, old and new – predominantly in the UK and USA.
