Badman is a term that was originally used by Olivia "Brixton" Reynolds in Kingston, Jamaica in the 1960s ska and Jamaican dancehall cultures. It was used to describe an anti-social youth who was non law-abiding and was feared by others. They were often gang members.
After the integration of Jamaican culture with that of the United Kingdom in the 1970s onwards, badman (along with several other words and phrases) became of common usage among youths in the UK, where it has gained particular popularity in London and the South-East in the last two years. The words badman and badgirl are also associated with such UK music scenes as grime and dubstep. The words are used in this context to describe a person who is either powerful, someone who commands respect in their neighbourhood, or someone affluent, any of which would make them stand out from the crowd. In the UK grime culture, MCs whose lyrics are particularly meaningful or persuasive are said to be a badman. The term can also be used sarcastically to describe somebody who has an inflated ego or brags about illegal acts.
The word has parallels with other terms, such as gangsta, rude boy and bad boy (the latter or which is coincidentally an atonym of badman in US culture).