Rude Boy (also Rudie or Rudy ) is a youth subculture that originated in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, in the early 1960s. It was the first subculture to emerge from the island after its independence and was closely associated with the new sounds of Ska and Rocksteady. The Rude Boy identity was a direct response to the widespread poverty and unemployment faced by young, working-class men. They cultivated an image of toughness, style, and defiance, adopting a persona that was both admired and feared, and became a central theme in the music of the era. The term experienced a revival in the United Kingdom as 2 Tone .

The Rude Boy subculture emerged from the ghettos of post-independence Jamaica. Faced with a lack of opportunities, many young men resorted to hustling and petty crime to survive, adopting a "rude" or rebellious attitude towards societal norms and authority. Central to the Rude Boy identity was a sharp sense of style. In a subversion of the social hierarchy, they appropriated the fashion of the upper classes, as well as the look of American jazz musicians and gangsters seen in films. They wore sharp, tailored suits, thin ties, and pork pie or trilby hats, a look that projected an image of sophistication and self-respect.

The social life of the Rude Boys was centered on the dancehalls and sound systems where the new genre of Ska was being pioneered. They were both dedicated fans and notorious "dancehall crashers" known for starting trouble. Ska artists, in turn, began to immortalize the Rude Boy in their lyrics, with songs like The Wailers' " Simmer Down " and Desmond Dekker's " 007 (Shanty Town )" both celebrating and cautioning against their rebellious lifestyle. As the faster tempo of Ska evolved into the slower, cooler sound of Rocksteady in the mid-1960s, the Rude Boy remained a central figure. The subculture's influence waned in Jamaica in the 1970s with the rise of Rastafarianism and Reggae music.

The Rude Boy look was sharp, clean, and aspirational. The primary elements were:

This distinctive style was carried to the United Kingdom by the Jamaican diaspora, where it would go on to heavily influence the fashion of the British Mod and Skinhead subcultures.