Steel Pulse is a roots reggae

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

 musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth

Handsworth, West Midlands

Handsworth is an inner city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the ancient Staffordshire parish of Handsworth into two urban districts: Handsworth and Perry Barr. Handsworth was annexed to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1911...

 Wood Boys School, in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, composed of David Hinds

David Hinds

David "Dread" Hinds is the English rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist for the Grammy Award winning reggae band, Steel Pulse....

 (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon

Basil Gabbidon

Basil Gabbidon is a guitarist / vocalist, and a founding member of the reggae band Steel Pulse....

  (lead guitar, vocals), and Ronald McQueen

Ronald McQueen

Ronald McQueen is a bassist, and one of the original members of the reggae band Steel Pulse.McQueen is usually credited with naming the band 'Steel Pulse' after a successful racehorse...

 (bass).
Formed in 1975, their debut release, Kibudu, Mansetta And Abuku arrived on the small independent label Dip, and linked the plight of urban black youth with the image of a greater African homeland.