Rhyging

Vincent "Ivanhoe" Martin (19249 September 1948), known as "Rhyging", was a Jamaican criminal who became a legendary outlaw and folk hero, often regarded as the "original rude boy". 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".

Life Early career Born Vincent Martin in Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica, he turned to a life of violent crime in his teenage years after moving to Kingston. Short and slim with an "effeminate" voice, In 1946 he was arrested for robbery, beginning his career of self-dramatisation by defending himself in court, irritating the judge with his "long-winded" and grandiose speeches. After a year in gaol, he was released, but quickly committed another robbery, for which he was convicted and sentenced to a five-year term. On 30 April 1948 he escaped from gaol. What followed was a period of several months during which he eluded police, ending in an intense six-week crime spree in West Kingston. Lurid reports about the spree appeared in the Daily Gleaner newspaper, which popularised his nickname "Rhyging". He was suspected of robbing the White Horses Inn at Mary Brown's Corner (during which a security guard was tied up) and a store near Rousseau Road. Police at the time believed that he intended "to board a boat which would take him out of the island or to someplace on the south-western coast of the island."

Rhyging's body was held at the city mortuary before being buried in a pauper's grave. Large numbers of people came to see the body of the notorious criminal, including Eric Goldson, who reportedly commented "The race is not for the swift. Rhyging you gone at last!"

His life inspired the 1972 film The Harder They Come, Jamaica's first feature film, starring Jimmy Cliff as Ivan Martin and directed by Perry Henzell. In the film Rhyging is portrayed as a reggae singer and song writer, who is tricked out of the rights to his songs and is drawn into drug-dealing, but becomes famous as he achieves notoriety for his crimes. According to Cliff, "Rhygin was very much on the side of the people; he was a kind of Robin Hood, I guess you could call him". Together with the movie Ivan is also referred to in the song "The Guns of Brixton" by the rock band The Clash.

Michael Thelwell's 1980 novel The Harder They Come, derived from the film, is also a sympathetic account of his life, and portrays him as an innocent victim of con-men when he first arrives in Kingston.

The film was later adapted as a stage musical, with a script overseen by Henzell, and was first staged in 2006 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, subsequently transferring to other theatres, with Rolan Bell playing the role of Rhyging.

Rhyging continues to play a role in Jamaican culture as a duppy (bogeyman) used to scare children.