The Streets
About The Streets
English alternative rapper The Streets defies easy classification-it's not just that he's a gawky white boy, it's not just that he deliberately raps in an exaggerated working class accent he's dubbed "mockney" and it's not just that his beats owe as much to vintage Atari games as to vintage Run DMC. But his meandering, story-centric raps are strangely compelling and his gifts for colorful London street slang and anecdotes make his tracks unique on the current club pop dominated hip hop scene. Even as a lad, the young Mike Skinner was obsessed with the electronic elements of music production. He built himself a low-tech recording studio and began making beats and garage tracks while still a teenager. Skinner always loved the scene as much as the music, and his initial ambitions were to start his own record label. The Streets started off as a band sending out demo tapes but other members dropped out and Mike was left with the name. But one of the demos caught the attention of hot UK label Locked On Records, the same label that had given Artful Dodger and Craig David their start. After his single "Has It Come to This?" generated massive hype, his debut full-length Original Pirate Material was a critical smash. It chronicled the lives of working class London clubbers and the raw production on singles like "Lets Push Things Forward" and "Don't Mug Yourself" were unlikely hits. The album topped numerous critical best-of lists including Rolling Stone, Spin and The New York Times.
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