Street Tuff

"Street Tuff"
Single by Rebel MC & Double Trouble
from the album Rebel Music
Released1989
Genre
Length3:31
LabelDesire
Songwriter(s)
  • Leigh Guest
  • Michael Menson
  • Michael West
Producer(s)
  • Double Trouble
  • Rebel MC
Rebel MC singles chronology
"Just Keep Rockin'"
(1989) 		"Street Tuff"
(1989) 		"Better World"
(1990)
Music video
"Street Tuff" on YouTube

"Street Tuff" is a song by British producer and toaster Rebel MC and Double Trouble. Released in 1989 by the Desire label as their second single from the debut album, Rebel Music (1990), it became a commercial success and the biggest hit of both performers' careers, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart.[1] It is the follow-up to their first hit, "Just Keep Rockin'", which made it into the UK top 20.[1] Additionally, "Street Tuff" was a top-10 hit in Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. A music video was also produced to promote the single.

Critical reception

David Taylor-Wilson from Bay Area Reporter named the song "one of the most infectious grooves we've heard all year", noting that it "mixes the rhythms of Jamaican reggae with a house music beat. Just try and sit still when this one’s playing."[2] Bill Coleman from Billboard wrote that "clever rhyming powered by insinuating club beats" could generate multiformat play to follow the UK act's previous smash, "Just Keep Rockin'".[3] David Giles from Music Week complimented it as a "splendid duet between hot young rapper Rebel MC and former Simply Red backing vocalist Janet Rose, conducted to an instrumental track that sounds very much like a dancehall reggae groove speeded up to 45 rpm! Brilliant and irresistibly danceable."[4] A reviewer from The Network Forty felt that featuring the "sultry Annie Lennox style vocals" of the singer, "this rap-dance record covers both musical realms with equal zeal."[5]

Siân Pattenden from Smash Hits said, "Quite a funky little number this, though very much in the same vein as their last single. There are lots of "yeahs", a boogalong beat and a host of currazy rhythms to keep you dancing. The words are very hard and tough, because the Rebel Mc is "street tuff" and he stings "like a bee" and that sorts of thing."[6] Frank Owen from Spin found that the song is "a single masquerading as an album", "both marketing gimmick and a testament to the way the British mix and match different musical genres, unlike in the US, where the demarcation lines between house, hip hop and reggae still remain fiercely patrolled aesthetic boundaries."[7]

Charts

References

  1. ^ a b c "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  2. ^ Taylor-Wilson, David (9 August 1990). "The Heat of the Beat". Bay Area Reporter. p. 36. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  3. ^ Coleman, Bill (24 February 1990). "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. p. 79. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  4. ^ Giles, David (30 September 1989). "Singles" (PDF). Music Week. p. 25. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Top 40: The Next 40" (PDF). The Network Forty. 11 May 1990. p. 44. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  6. ^ Pattenden, Siân (4 October 1989). "Singles". Smash Hits. p. 73. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  7. ^ Owen, Frank (May 1990). "Singles". Spin. p. 84. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  8. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 230.
  9. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 45. 11 November 1989. p. IV. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Top 3 Greece" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 10. 10 March 1990. p. VII. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 4 June 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Rebel MC & Double Trouble".
  14. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 45, 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Double Trouble & Rebel MC – Street Tuff" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1989" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  21. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1989". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  22. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1989" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  23. ^ "Year-End Charts '89 – Top 100 Singles". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 3 March 1990. p. 16.
  24. ^ "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1990" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 9 February 2021.