Rhyging | |
|---|---|
 Rhyging posing with a gun, as reproduced in the Daily Gleaner | |
| Born | Vincent Martin 1924 |
| Died | (aged 24) |
| Other names | Ivanhoe |
| Criminal charge | Wounding, robbery, murder |
Vincent "Ivanhoe" Martin (1924–9 September 1948), known as "Rhyging", was a Jamaican criminal who became a legendary outlaw and folk hero, often regarded as the "original rude boy".[1][2] He became notorious in 1948 after escaping from prison, going on the run and committing a string of robberies, murders and attempted murders before he was gunned down by police. In subsequent decades his life became mythologised in Jamaican popular culture, culminating in the 1972 cult film The Harder They Come, in which he is portrayed by Jimmy Cliff.
His nickname comes from the term rhyging, also spelled rhygin, a variant of "raging".[3] In Jamaican Patois it is used to mean wild, hot, or bad.[4]
- ^ Heather Augustyn; Cedella Marley (2010). Ska: An Oral History. McFarland. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-7864-6040-3.
- ^ Greil Marcus (1990). Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press. p. 263. ISBN 978-0-674-53581-7.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
rhywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Timothy White (2006). Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley. Macmillan. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8050-8086-5.