Meaning
A man — usually at a tourist resort — who poses as a Rastafari to charm foreign women, often in exchange for money, gifts, or a good time. A cheeky, mocking term for a beach gigolo trading on the romantic image of the Rastaman, the 'rent-a-dread' grows dreadlocks and plays the part to draw the tourist, and the word pokes fun at the whole hustle. It belongs to the frank, wry Jamaican talk of the resort economy, where the exotic 'dread' is a role some men rent out to the visiting woman.
Examples
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Di tourist woman fall fi a rent-a-dread.
The tourist woman fell for a rent-a-dread.
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Him a pure rent-a-dread, nuh real Rasta.
He's just a beach gigolo, not a real Rasta.
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Rent-a-dread hang round di hotel.
Rent-a-dreads hang around the hotel.
Origin
A play on 'rent-a-car' and the like — a 'dread' (Rasta) available for hire — mocking those who fake the Rastafari image for tourists.
How it’s used
Teasing and critical, marking the man as inauthentic. Real Rastafari resent the pretence the term describes.