The Streets

Recording as The Streets, British producer and rapper Mike Skinner creates an eclectic combo of grime and UK garage that’s made complete by his astute observational lyrics. • Skinner’s acclaimed 2002 debut album, Original Pirate Material, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and four BRIT Awards. • With its wry and self-effacing descriptions of humdrum British life, his follow-up, 2004’s A Grand Don’t Come for Free, was even more successful. The single “Fit But You Know It” went Top 5 in the UK, followed by “Dry Your Eyes”, which reached No. 1. The album also topped the UK charts and went quadruple platinum. • Skinner would put out three more albums under The Streets banner, including 2011’s futuristic Computers and Blues, before temporarily retiring the name and laying low, with only a few scarce tracks surfacing in the years to follow. • The 2017 songs “Burn Bridges” and “Sometimes I Hate My Friends More Than My Enemies” announced the return of The Streets, and the mixtape None of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive arrived in 2020. The single “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better” features the psych-rock act Tame Impala.