The Streets
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Streets | |
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 Mike Skinner in concert
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Skinner |
| Born | November 27, 1978 |
| Origin | Birmingham, England |
| Genre(s) | UK Garage Electronica Hip Hop Grime |
| Instrument(s) | vocals, keyboards, guitar |
| Years active | 2000 - present |
| Label(s) | 679 Recordings, The Beats |
| Website | www.the-streets.co.uk |
Mike Skinner (born November 27, 1978), more commonly known by his stage name The Streets, is a rapper from Birmingham, England.[1]
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[edit] History
Skinner acquired his first keyboard at the age of five after moving to Birmingham from Barnet, North London. 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 Chris Panton. He describes his background as "Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money about, really boring."[2] Skinner started making songs at the age of fifteen. He also attended Bournville School.
He has suffered from epilepsy since the age of seven.[3]
In the late 1990s, following secondary education at Bournville School, 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.
Despite having been raised in Birmingham, an area with a distinctive regional accent, he speaks with a London-influenced accent. Some critics have accused Skinner of using a "Mockney" accent.[4] He can be heard speaking in his normal accent at the beginning of the song "Fake Streets Hats". Because of his accent, Skinner is identified with Birmingham; a keen supporter of Birmingham City, he even wore the club's replica shirt on stage.
[edit] 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 UK 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. The cover image is Towering Inferno by the acclaimed photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg.
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. Though the album was not a commercial success in the States, it was received positively by 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.
[edit] Live Line-up
The Streets regularly plays live, and has also performed at several festivals.
Up until recently his playing line up was Mike Skinner, Leo "The Lion" singing backing vocals, Eddie "The Kid" playing keyboard, Johnny Drum Machine playing drums, and long-time friend Morgan Nicholls playing bass and guitar. Morgan has since left the band to focus on playing with progressive rock band Muse, playing a variety of instruments as part of their live show.
His current live-line up consists out of Kevin Mark Trail on backing vocals, Wayne Vibes on guitar and bass, Chris Brown on keyboards, Magic Mike on samplers and Johnny Drum Machine as drummer and musical director.
[edit] 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.
"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, Donae'o 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.
[edit] 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 April 25, 2006 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 much speculation over which celebrity "When You Wasn't Famous" is about - Rachel Stevens and Cheryl Cole are two names that have been ruled out, despite Skinner dedicating the song to Cole on Top Of The Pops.[5] This reluctance to reveal the subject may be more than simple politeness, as some of the descriptions of the unnamed starlet in the track are potentially damaging. At one point, Skinner discloses "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 chord progression of The Beatles' "Let It Be" as a backing beat.
The Streets appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on June 26, 2006 to promote the new album.
[edit] Everything Is Borrowed
Skinner is currently in the process of mastering his fourth studio album, Everything Is Borrowed.[6] One song from the new album, entitled "Everything Is Borrowed", was on Skinner's myspace page for a while before being replaced with a cover of "Your Song". The sound is reminiscent of Skinner's earlier work on Original Pirate Material. In a posting on his MySpace blog, Skinner noted that the group's upcoming LP would have a "peaceful, positive vibe" in comparison with 2006's The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.
In a blurb about the album on Skinner's MySpace, he says "This album started off life as parables but then I realised that it might get a bit cheesy so I got rid of the alien song and the devil song and replaced them with more straight up songs. I've pretty much kept my promise that I made to myself not to reference modern life on any of them though which is hard to do and keep things personal at the same time."
[edit] Fifth album
Skinner has said that the fifth record would be similar to Lou Reed's Berlin.[7]
"The final Streets album (the fifth one) will be dark and futuristic. This could not be further from the album you're about to hear, but it's what is on my mind at the moment. I feel inspired by the synthesizer exhibition we just visited in Graz [Austria] after the gig we just did." [8]
On 6 August, 2008, Skinner stated on his MySpace blog that the title of the final Streets record will be Computers and Blues, and that it will likely not be released for at least two years.[9] He has said that for the final album he will abandon sampling and use only live musicians.[10] He has repeatedly stated that it will be the last Steets album, remarking that he is "fucking sick" of the name and connotations that come along with it.[11]
[edit] Promotional and campaign work
- Skinner is an ardent fan of Reebok Classics shoes; he is often seen wearing a pair of white Workout Plus trainers, and has even mentioned them in the lyrics for his song "Let's Push Things Forward", in which he raps, "Let's put on our Classics and have a little dance, shall we?". In 2005 he signed up to appear in a 12 month ad campaign for Reebok, joining other prominent celebrities in Reebok's "I Am What I Am" campaign.[12][13][14]
[edit] Discography
- Original Pirate Material - May 25, 2002 (Locked On Records)
- A Grand Don't Come for Free - May 18, 2004 (Vice Records, Atlantic Records)
- The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living - April 10, (2006 (Locked On Records)
- Everything Is Borrowed - September 15, 2008
[edit] Album sales
| Album | Year | UK Chart | US Chart | FRA Chart | AUS Chart | AUT Chart | IRE Chart | DEN Chart | BEL Chart | SWE Chart | NZ Chart | GER Chart | NOR Charts | Album Sales & Certifications |
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| "Original Pirate Material" | 2002 | 10 | 97 | 43 | 36 | 10 | 1,000,000
BPI Certification: 1× Platinum |
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| "A Grand Don't Come for Free" | 2004 | 1 | 82 | 38 | 11 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 25 | 5 | 3,000,000
BPI Certification: 3× Platinum |
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| "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" | 2006 | 1 | 68 | 122 | 16 | 42 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 25 | 10 | 567,000
BPI Certification: Gold |
| "Everything Is Borrowed" | 2008 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -
BPI Certification: = |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||
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| U.K | IRE | AUS | GER | SWE | |||
| 2001 | "Has It Come To This?" |
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| 2002 | Let's Push Things Forward (Feat. Kevin Mark Trail) |
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| "Weak Become Heroes" |
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| "Don't Mug Yourself" |
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| "The Irony of It All" |
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| "It's Too Late" / "Weak Become Heroes" |
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| 2004 | "Fit But You Know It" |
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| "Dry Your Eyes" |
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| "Blinded By The Lights" |
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| "Could Well Be In" |
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| 2005 | "Get Out My House (Remix)" |
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| 2006 | "When You Wasn't Famous" |
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| "Never Went to Church" |
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| "Prangin' Out" |
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| 2008 | "The Escapist" |
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[edit] References
- ^ "The Streets bio at Yahoo! Music". Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ Mike Skinner: Voice of The Streets, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2262033.stm>. Retrieved on 30 September 2007
- ^ "Interview: The Streets". Guardian (April 25, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ "Review of Original Pirate Material on musicOMH.com". Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ You're fitted up and don't you know it, <http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,4-2006130863,00.html>. Retrieved on 30 September 2007
- ^ The Streets to split after fifth album
- ^ The Streets to split after fifth album
- ^ The Streets to split after fifth album
- ^ Maher, Dave (2008-08-15), Streets Collaborations With Robert Wyatt, Muse Trashed, Pitchfork Media, <http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/142859-streets-collaborations-with-robert-wyatt-muse-trashed>. Retrieved on 17 August 2008
- ^ SKINNER SCRAPPED ENTIRE ALBUM, contactmusic.com, 2008-08-12, <http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/skinner%20scrapped%20entire%20album_1077116>. Retrieved on 13 August 2008
- ^ Mike Skinner 'fucking sick' of The Streets, NME, 2008-08-29, <http://www.nme.com/news/the-streets/39368>. Retrieved on 6 September 2008
- ^ "Softpedia article detailing relationship between Skinner and Reebok", Softpedia (26 August 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ Farey-Jones, Daniel (25 August 2005). "Brand Republic article detailing relationship between Skinner and Reebok", Brand Republic. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ "Evening Standard article detailing relationship between Skinner and Reebok", This Is London (25 August 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart for the week ending 23 August 2008" . ChartsPlus (365): 1-4. Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd. Retrieved on 2008-08-21.
[edit] External links
- The Streets official website
- The Streets at MySpace
- The Streets at Allmusic
- CNN interview with The Streets
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | The Streets |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Skinner, Michael "Mike" |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | English rapper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 27, 1978 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Birmingham, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
