The Bills were a youth subculture active in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo in the late 1950s, basing much of their image and outlook on the cowboys of American Western movies.
The majority of Léopoldville's population was under 20, and most of these youths were educated to only primary level, since the colonial government reserved most of the secondary school places for Europeans.
Poor education resulted in large scale unemployment, and, with little else to do, the youths began to make the theaters their meeting points.
The portrayal of Buffalo Bill in the movies was especially appealing partly because of the similarity to hunter heroes of Congolese culture.
Some commentators have suggested they provided a street-level counterpart to the more refined and overtly political anti-colonial struggle that was then being fought by some of the évolués (the middle class educated elite).