To many people, it's a surprise The Streets (aka Mike Skinner) is a star at all.

Though his recent nomination for four Brit awards shows what a talent he actually is, his music doesn't exactly fit the usual run of things.

His raps about trainer shops, cheap drugs, McDonald's and being on the dole, are neither pop, indie nor dance.

Mike's impressions of British urban life have, however, struck a chord with audiences.

Much like Ms Dynamite, who pipped The Streets to the post at last year's Mercury Prize, his songs have meaning in a world dominated by manufactured pop.

Now being dubbed the British Eminem, The Streets has had much made of his authentic working class roots, a myth he himself has made light of.

Describing himself as 'Barratt' class, he had a liberal upbringing on a suburban estate in Birmingham and his father expected him to become an accountant.

From the age of five, he used to like fiddling with keyboards.

By the age of nine, he knew he wanted to make records after being influenced by his older brother's records by flower power funksters De La Soul and the Beastie Boys.

At 15, he began to produce American-centric copies of hip-hop records which he now derides as "crap".

After a year in Australia working in bars, he returned to write about his life.

He recorded his album Original Pirate Material 18 months ago in his bedroom at his parents' house using a sound booth built out of a wardrobe, mattress and duvet.

It went to number 20 in the album charts without The Streets losing his cult status.

He built on this by refusing to turn up to the Brit awards on the advice of his management company.

Now executives are apparently trying to turn Mike into a film star.

Speaking in New York, where he was finishing a US tour, he said: "Movie companies want to put me in a modern-day Quadrophenia or something.

"I'm getting a different person phoning every week."

The Streets' gig at Concorde 2 is completely sold out.