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Mike
Skinner, 22, has never been to Ayia Napa. He has never swung a champagne
bottle over his head, doesn't wear Moschino drainpipes with bold graphic
lettering, or drive a bimmer. When you meet Mike, and consider in his
slight figure, grey hoodie, shiny white Nikes and gentle Midlands accents,
the phrase 'bling bling' isn't what instantly springs to mind. So how come
they're calling him 'the future of garage'? Because 'Has It Come To This'
by The Streets - Mike's nom de plume - is probably the next evolutionary
leap for the British urban music. Not since Soul II Soul's heyday has
street culture exerted such a powerful hold on the public imagination. And
while it might not be the poppiest track you've ever heard, or the
darkest, or the most likely to stir up pandemonium on the dance floor on
Saturday nights, there among Mike's MC chat is an unparalleled evocation
of British street life: the unglamorous life of Every kid UK as it's lived
between the trainer shop, the bus stop, the dealer's, McDonalds, a club,
the passenger seat of someone's car and a session on the N64 rounds
someone else's gaff. A testament on inner city culture delivered in a
language the inner cities knows best, not since Grandmaster Flash's 'The
Message' has a song define the nuances of a developing culture so well.
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