Mike Skinner (born November 27 1978), also known as The Streets, is a rapper and musician from West Heath, Birmingham, England.
History
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].
In the late 1990s, Skinner 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. [2]
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 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
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. The title appears to be a play on the lyric "you are so fit, and you know it", from Busted UK number one "You Said No" - the change from 'and' to 'but' implying that the self-assuredness of many beautiful women is a bad thing.
"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 April 10, 2006 in the United Kingdom and is slated for release on April 25 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. [3] 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."
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 publicising the brand. Mike moved to New York for two months where 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.
Discography
Albums
Album sales
- "Original Pirate Material": Platinum - Sales: 300.000 in UK (2002, #10 UK)
- "A Grand Don't Come for Free": 3x Platinum - Sales: 900.000 in UK, 3 million in the world (2004, #1 UK, #11 AUS)
- "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living": Sales: Unknown as of yet (2006, #1 UK)
Singles
From Original Pirate Material:
- "Has It Come to This?" (2001, #18 UK)
- "Let's Push Things Forward" (2002, #30 UK)
- "Weak Become Heroes" (2002, #27 UK)
- "Don't Mug Yourself" (2002, #21 UK)
From A Grand Don't Come for Free:
- "Fit But You Know It" (2004, #4 UK)
- "Dry Your Eyes" (2004, #1 UK, #1 IRL, #24 SWE)
- "Blinded by the Lights" (2004, #10 UK)
- "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)
- "Never Went To Church" (2006)