“Has It Come to This?” by The Streets

"Has It Come to This?" was how the Streets introduced themselves: Mike Skinner's project put it out on 679 Artists in October 2001 as the first single from the debut album Original Pirate Material. The words, production, arrangement and mix are all credited to the Streets, which is to say Skinner, with Matt Robertson on keyboards and Keith Hammond adding extra vocals.

The beat is UK garage to the bone, 2-step rhythms and a bass that wobbles, but the mood is stoned and reflective, and the words stay at street level, taking in ordinary British working-class life right down to the PlayStations. NME called it the most original British rap in memory, and Skinner later summed up his pitch as geezer rather than glitz or ghetto. It peaked at 18 on the UK Singles Chart and went gold with the BPI in 2024.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.