Original Pirate Material

Original Pirate Material
Studio album by The Streets
Released	25 May 2002 (UK) 22 October 2002 (US)
Genre	Alternative hip hop Electronica UK garage
Length	47:24
Label	Locked On, 679
Producer	Mike Skinner
The Streets chronology
Original Pirate Material (2002) All Got Our Runnins (2003)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(90/100) [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Blender	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	(A) [4]
Stylus Magazine	(A) [5]
Robert Christgau	(A−) [6]
Pitchfork Media	(7.9/10) [7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
IGN	(9/10)[10]
NME	(8/10)[11]
Spin	(8/10)[12]
Uncut	[13]
Alternative Press	[14]
Prefix Magazine	[15]
Drowned in Sound	[16]

Original Pirate Material is the debut album by the English rapper and producer Mike Skinner, under the name The Streets. The album is a unique take on UK garage and lyrics dealing with everyday circumstances and occurrences. The album originally rose to #12 on the UK Albums Chart in 2002, and then peaked at #10 in 2004 after the release of the second Streets album A Grand Don't Come for Free. The album has received a large amount of critical acclaim. In March 2003, NME placed Original Pirate Material at number 46 on their list of the "100 Best Albums of All Time".^[17] They subsequently placed Original Pirate Material at number 9 in their list of the "100 Best Albums of the Decade".^[18] Observer Music Monthly ranked it as the best album of the 00s.^[19]

In the United Kingdom, five singles were released from Original Pirate Material: "Has It Come to This?", "Let's Push Things Forward", "Weak Become Heroes", "Don't Mug Yourself" and "The Irony of It All".

Background

Skinner has stated that his main early influences were from the United States, in particular Wu-Tang Clan MCs such as Raekwon and RZA, as well as east coast rapper Nas's album Illmatic. However, Skinner attributes the album as emerging from the UK Garage scene of the late 1990s.^[20] His stance when making the album was to combine the UK Garage sound with a lyrical content about "all the little adventures you go on" rather than the style of UK hip hop, which he accused of being "someone from Reading pretending to be Biggie or Q-Tip".^[21]

Journalist Simon Reynolds identified the album's lyrical content as capturing UK Garage's "submerged reality" as a genre not based in nightclubs. Outside of London in the late 1990s, UK Garage was rarely played in clubs but was instead found on pirate radio stations, reflected by the album's title.^[22]

Recording

The recording of Original Pirate Material lasted over a year, with Skinner recording the bulk of the album in houses in Barnet and Brixton onto an IBM ThinkPad. Skinner used an emptied out wardrobe as a vocal booth, using duvets and mattresses to reduce echo. Direct influences on the album included the 2000 film Gladiator which spawned the lyrics to 'Turn The Page', the opening track to the album.^[23]

Cover

The cover artwork photograph of Original Pirate Material is by German photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg called Towering Inferno. The towerblock pictured is the south face of Kestrel House on City Road, London.

Chart reception

The album originally rose to #12 on the UK Albums Chart in 2002, and then peaked at #10 in 2004 after the release of the second Streets album A Grand Don't Come for Free. In Australia, Original Pirate Material peaked at #57.

Critical reception

Comptemporary reviews for the album commented on its DIY aesthetic and lyricism. A review in Stylus Magazine stated that the album "combines the boy-next-door DIY of US garage rock with the sound of UK garage and displays an alchemic ability to turn the humdrum of everyday life into a record that is at times empowering, hilarious, melancholy, awkward, and charming."^[5]

Since its release in 2002, Original Pirate Material has received a large amount of critical acclaim. In March 2003, NME placed Original Pirate Material at number 46 on their list of the "100 Best Albums of All Time".^[17] They subsequently placed Original Pirate Material at number 9 in their list of the "100 Best Albums of the Decade".^[18] Observer Music Monthly ranked it as the best album of the 00s.^[19] The critic Simon Reynolds also placed the album at the top of his favourite albums of the 2000s list, with a "special 'in a class of its own' award."^[24] Pitchfork Media rated the album as number ten on their list of the top 100 albums of 2000-2004.^[25] They later placed it at 36 on their list of the best albums of 2000-2009.^[26]

Track listing

References

External links

• Original Pirate Material at Metacritic
• Information on Kestrel House, the London tower block depicted on the album's cover