Has Mike Skinner been reading this blog?

Mike Skinner from The Streets has just released a free mixtape and on that he has included a spoken word accapella track. Could this be an indication that Mike is finally standing up as a poet in his own right?

not that he's never been one... I just remember when I fell in love with The Streets all those years ago and I'd hear people say "he's only chatting... pay me to talk over bloody beats, I sound better than that!"

A lot of people didn't get it but I really connected with it... well, a lot of people did.. he's a top selling artist.

I saw The Streets live and to the crowd Mike said rather apologetically "I'm not the best Rapper in the world but I love what I do!"

which kind of disheartened me because it was almost like he was apologising for being an artist who puts substance over style.

Here you can download The Streets Mixtape and I've included other Spoken Word artists who you need on your radar.

http://www.factmag.com/2011/01/28/you-can-now-hear-that-new-streets-mixtape/

Dizraeli is a favorite of mine, he incorporates Spoken Word ingeniously into his raps. Check out his 2009 release 'Scrabblebag'


http://music.dizraeli.com/album/scrabblebag

Possibly the most popular Spoken Word artist in the UK 'Polarbear'



https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=sHuC_ODglMVgsbZ9IkEeTS3E8_YDQFJlCasWutW7FUTmY9bBdfYmBjxJQzS&dispatch=50a222a57771920b6a3d7b606239e4d529b525e0b7e69bf0224adecfb0124e9b61f737ba21b08198d70e9d8c4be72a2b45eb322c89203d65

The amazingly talented Indigo Williams has a new Spoken Word release out!



http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/growing-pains/id415324414

New release from Hollie Mcnish - Touch



http://holliemcnish.bandcamp.com/album/touch-a-collection-of-poetry-spoken-word-and-music-available-to-download-audio-only-or-order-with-full-illustrated-16-page-poetry-booklet

Mike McGee is one of the best loved Spoken Word artists in North America... I see why.



http://listen.mikemcgee.net/album/mike-mcgee-is-beautiful

Carlos Andreas Gomez is incredible - he truly packs style and substance in his work- a true Spoken Word Artist.



http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/carlosandresgomez

also check out one of my favorite bands headed by a poet - Benin City. They'll be doing big things this year. Also, check out an album that should go down in Spoken Word history - The Short Story Long by Shane Koyczan.

Fianlly, Kate Tempest has a new album coming out and this video by the brilliant poet 'John Berkavitch' is testimony of things to come.