The Streets
Mike Skinner (born
27 November 1978), also known as
The Streets, is a
rapper and musician from
West Heath,
Birmingham,
England.
Early years
Skinner acquired his first
keyboard by the age of five. As a teenager, he built a miniature recording studio in his bedroom. He began writing
hip hop and garage music in his home in
West Heath in Birmingham, with a crew of other rappers including best friend Adam Swaby. He describes his background as "
Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money about, really boring"[
1]. Skinner started making songs at the age of fifteen.
In the late 1990s, Skinner was a student at
Sutton Coldfield College, near Birmingham, and was working in fast food jobs while trying to start his own
independent record label and sending off
demos. The Streets started out as a group project but quickly became a one-man act as band members fell away. At the end of 2000, the
Locked On label, who had had success with
The Artful Dodger featuring
Craig David, agreed to release "Has It Come To This" under the name
The Streets. Skinner moved from Birmingham to
Brixton to pursue his recording career. Skinner's "
mockney" accent has often been criticised. Despite having been raised in Birmingham, an area with a distinctive
regional accent, he speaks with a strong London "
cockney" accent. He can be heard speaking in his normal accent at the beginning of the song "Fake Streets Hats." [
2]Because of his accent, Skinner is identified with Birmingham, but he doesn't identify with it much himself. He was born in Barnet and moved to the Midlands when he was five; his family moved south again when he was in his teens. This may serve as a counter-argument to the regular criticism of his accent. [
3]
Career breakthrough
"Has It Come To This" proved to be a breakthrough hit for The Streets, going top-twenty in March 2001. For his debut
album,
Original Pirate Material, , Skinner wanted to take garage in a new direction with material reflecting the lifestyle of clubbers in Britain. The track "
Let's Push Things Forward" reflects the philosophy of the album. The album was released and proved to be successful both with critics and the general public alike. In the UK, the album was nominated for the prestigious
Mercury Music Prize and was favourite with the bookies to win it (it was later won by
Ms. Dynamite). The Streets was nominated for best album, best
urban act, best breakthrough artist and best British male artist in the 2002
Brit awards. The
NME named it as one of their top five albums of 2002.
Subsequent singles included "Don't Mug Yourself", "Weak Become Heroes" and "Let's Push Things Forward" which all reached the top 40 in the UK. Many of his songs have a
UK Garage feel but have in the main found popularity in the '
indie' scene.
Original Pirate Material had debuted and peaked at number 12 in the UK album charts, and wouldn't reach any higher until his next album was released.
The success of
Original Pirate Material in the UK led to a US release of the album through
Vice/Atlantic in late 2002. It quickly became a critical favourite with
Rolling Stone,
Spin Magazine,
The New York Times,
Blender,
USA Today and the
LA Times all nominating it as one of the albums of the year. The album was named Entertainment Weekly's "album of the year". The album reached number two on the Billboard electronic charts and the top 20 on the independent and Heatseeker charts in the US in 2003. The cover photo was designed by German photographer
Rut Blees Luxemburg.
Topping the charts
|
Mike Skinner, as seen on a March 2006 NME cover |
In May 2004, he released a new single, "Fit But You Know It" which became his highest debuting and highest selling single to that point, reaching number four in the UK. The single, which Skinner revealed was an ode to his lust for pop star
Rachel Stevens, is notable for its simple tune which may be based upon her hit
Sweet Dreams My LA Ex mixed with
Blur's 'mockney'
Parklife song.
"Fit But You Know It" is from his second album,
A Grand Don't Come For Free which is a
concept album about a short period in the protagonist's life. The events depicted include losing a thousand
pounds, the start of a new relationship, going on holiday, breaking up, and eventually finding the grand again. The MC's remix of "Fit But You Know It" features formerly underground MCs such as
Kano, Tinchy Stryder, Don'eo (of So Solid Crew) and
Lady Sovereign.
The album debuted at number two in the UK album charts, but later reached the number one position. Soon after the album was released, his success grew even larger in July 2004, with the second single "Dry Your Eyes" debuting at the top of the chart in the UK. The success of this album and its singles led to a re-kindling of interest in the first album
Original Pirate Material, which re-entered the UK album charts and beat its original chart peak of two years earlier. "Blinded By the Lights", the third single from "A Grand Don't Come For Free", hit the Top 10 in September 2004, and a fourth and final single, "Could Well Be In", was released in late 2004.
The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
Skinner's third studio album under The Streets moniker,
The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, was released on
10 April 2006 in the
United Kingdom and on
25 April in
North America. In the UK it debuted at #1 on the album chart. It was a change in direction from the last two albums, the lyrical theme of "Hardest" moved away from the stories about
working class Britain and now studying on the ups and downs of fame, a problem Skinner has encountered since the huge success of his last album.
The lead single, titled "
When You Wasn't Famous", was released two weeks prior to the album. The song is about Skinner's troubles with trying to date a famous person, following his new found fame. It was also named 'Track of the Week' by NME in early March 2006, but when it came into the UK singles charts, it only reached the latter course of the top 10, peaking at #8. There has been massive speculation over which celebrity "When You Wasn't Famous" is about -
Rachel Stevens and
Cheryl Tweedy are two names that have been ruled out, despite Skinner dedicating the song to Tweedy on
Top Of The Pops. [
4] This reluctance to reveal the subject may be more than simple politeness, some of the descriptions of the un-named starlet in the track are potentially damaging, at one point disclosing "my whole life I never thought I'd see a pop star smoke
crack".
The second single, "
Never Went To Church", is a tribute to Skinner's late father, and appears to use the melody of
The Beatles' "
Let It Be" as a backing beat.
The Streets appeared on
Late Night with David Letterman on
June 26 to promote the new album.
Other work
In 2005, a Streets
remix of
Bloc Party's "Banquet" emerged. The song contained lyrics about Mike Skinner apologising to
Radio 1 presenter
Jo Whiley for stealing her microphone during an interview in 2003. He stated in the song that he used the stolen mic to record his second album. The
music video for this remix shows him returning the mic to Whiley herself.
The
Reebok sportswear company added The Streets to its "I am what I am" ad campaign in August 2005, where he joined the ranks of such hip-hop stars as
50 Cent,
Jay-Z and
Nelly in publicizing the brand. Mike moved to New York for two months when he became sick of seeing his face on the side of buses in the RBK ad campaign. While he was there, he met up with P Diddy who asked him to contribute to the Biggie Duets album. Mike's song, 'Two Nations' was ditched by P. Diddy but made it onto
The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living.
He has worked with London rappers
The Mitchell Brothers, and the first act signed to his
'The Beats' record label, appearing in their video for
Harvey Nicks. In addition he has also produced for MC
Professor Green, who is also signed to his record label.
In
July 25,
2006, Mike Skinner set a new record by filming the world's longest music video. [
5] The 20 minute long video, made to celebrate
MTV's 25th anniversary, is seven minutes longer than the previous longest,
Thriller by
Michael Jackson. The track featured on the video is named "Deluded In My Mind" and will be released as a double A-side with "Pranging Out" to raise funds for the
Staying Alive Foundation, a registered charity that helps young people to fight
HIV and
AIDS. The video was premiered on
August 1 on MTV, and is now available to watch on
MTV Overdrive.
Albums
Image:OriginalPirateMaterial.jpg|Original Pirate Material
Release Date:Chart Position:
Image:The Streets-A Grand Don't Come For Free.jpg|A Grand Don't Come for Free
Release Date:Chart Position:
Image:The Streets-thehardestwaytomakeaneasyliving.jpg|The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
Release Date:Chart Position:Album sales
* "Original Pirate Material": Platinum - Sales: 300.000 in UK (2002, #10 UK, #97 FRA)
* "A Grand Don't Come for Free": 3x Platinum - Sales: 900.000 in UK, 3 million worldwide (2004, #1 UK, #11 AUS, #24 AUT, #38 FRA)
* "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living": Sales:148,000 [
6] (2006, #1 UK, #3 IRE, #9 DEN, #16 AUS #19 BEL, #19 SWE, #42 AUT, #21 NZ, #122 FRA)
Singles
From Original Pirate Material:* "Has It Come to This?" (2001, #18 UK)
* "Let's Push Things Forward"
(Featuring Kevin Mark Trail) (2002, #30 UK)
* "Weak Become Heroes" (2002, #27 UK, #74 AUS)
* "Don't Mug Yourself" (2002, #21 UK)
From A Grand Don't Come for Free
:
* "Fit But You Know It" (2004, #4 UK, #37 AUS)
* "Dry Your Eyes" (2004, #1 UK, #1 IRL, #24 SWE, #42 AUS)
* "Blinded by the Lights" (2004, #10 UK, #92 AUS)
* "Could Well Be In" (2004, #30 UK)
From The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living'':
* "
When You Wasn't Famous" (2006, #8 UK, #26 IRL, #67 AUS)
* "
Never Went to Church" (2006, #20 UK)
* "All Goes Out The Window" (2006)
*
The Streets web site*
The Streets MySpace*
All Music Guide The Streets Page*
Free Williamsburg profile*
"Mike Skinner's Blues: Traversing The Streets of Anglo-America", PopMatters column (3/2005)*
The Streets Videos*
Video For Remix of Bloc Party's Banquet
