The Streets

The Streets
Mike Skinner at Parklife, Sydney, October 2011
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genres	UK garage, electronica, indie, hip hop, alternative hip hop, hip house
Years active	1994–2011
Labels	Locked On/679 Recordings (UK) Vice/Atlantic Records (US) (2000–2010) Warner Music (Worldwide)
Associated acts	The D.O.T.
Website	the-streets.co.uk
Past members	Mike Skinner Johnny Drum Machine Kevin Mark Trail Leo the Lion

The Streets were an English hip hop and UK garage project from Birmingham, England, led by the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner.

The project released five studio albums: Original Pirate Material (2002), A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004), The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008), Computers and Blues (2011), an internet-only album Cyberspace and Reds (2011) and a string of successful singles in the mid-2000s, including "Has It Come to This?", "Fit But You Know It", "Dry Your Eyes", "When You Wasn't Famous" and "Prangin' Out".

In 2001, the Locked On label, which had success with The Artful Dodger featuring Craig David, released "Has It Come to This?" under the name The Streets. It was a breakthrough hit for The Streets, reaching number 18 on the UK charts in October 2001.

For The Streets' first 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 successful both with critics and the general public. In the UK, the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and was favourite with the bookmakers to win (it was actually won by Ms. Dynamite). The Streets were 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 from that album included "Don't Mug Yourself", "Weak Become Heroes" and "Let's Push Things Forward", which all reached the top forty in the UK. Many of his songs have a UK garage feel. Original Pirate Material had debuted and peaked at number twelve in the UK album charts, and did not reach any higher until his next album was released.