The Streets
The Streets is the musical project of British rapper and producer Mike Skinner, known for blending UK garage, hip hop, and electronic music with witty and poignant social commentary. Their debut album, "Original Pirate Material" (2002), is widely acclaimed for its raw depiction of urban life in the UK.
About
The Streets is the brainchild of Mike Skinner, an English vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. He kicked off the project in his teens, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that things really took off. In its first run, The Streets dropped five studio albums: Original Pirate Material, A Grand Don’t Come for Free, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, Everything Is Borrowed, and Computers and Blues. Along the way, they put out a string of UK Top 40 singles like "Has It Come to This?", "Fit but You Know It", "Dry Your Eyes" (which hit No. 1), "When You Wasn't Famous", and "Prangin' Out".
After calling it quits for a while, Skinner explored other musical projects before reviving The Streets. He released a mixtape, None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive, followed by the sixth studio album, The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light.
The Streets has left a massive mark on UK hip-hop, garage, and grime, with Original Pirate Material often regarded as a game-changer that captured and defined the vibe of the early 2000s.