Producing a type of garage rap 2-step that could sometimes be mistaken for a British version of Wyclef Jean, the Streets specialize in spoken word rap with an eclectic infusion of indie/electronic music. The mastermind of Birmingham, England native Mike Skinner, the Streets is one music group that has been a long time in the making, rewarded with number ones all over the Billboard charts.

Growing up an outsider to the garage scene, the talented Mike Skinner started making tracks when he was 15 years old, moving on to support himself working in the fast food industry while trying to start a label and get his tracks out to the music business. Eventually things clicked for the aspiring musician and the hip-hop, house and jungle enthusiast found himself in the center of a musical revolution. In 2000 Skinner and the Streets inked a record deal with Locked On, a label that had already been working with hot club acts Tuff Jam, the Artful Dodger, Dem 2 and Doolally. The one-stop shop for speed garage music and 2-step in the late 1990s, Locked On gave Skinner the push he needed, releasing the Streets' "Has it Come to This?" in 2001. The single made the Top 20 in Britain, leading the way for the Streets' debut full-length album Original Pirate Material to be released in 2002. The album's half-singing, half-rapping style led to a fan base spanning several different genres of music, and spread to the U.S. later that year.

After 2003, Skinner and the Streets released the well-acclaimed albums A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004), The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006) and Everything is Borrowed (2008), all of which made the Billboard charts (with Skinner's 2004 and 2006 releases reaching the number one slot for electronic albums).