Has It Come to This? by The Streets Lyrics Meaning – Urban Odyssey Through Beats and Rhymes
Lyrics
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Make yourself at home
We’ve got diesel or some of that homegrown
Sit back in your throne, turn off your phone ’cause this is our zone
Videos, televisions, 64s, PlayStations
Weigh up Henry with precision, few herbs and a bit of Benson
But don’t forget the Rizla, lean like the Tower of Pisa
These are, I’ll raise ya and this is the day in the life of a geezer
For this ain’t a club track, pull out your sack and sit back
Whether you white or black, smoke weed, chase brown or toot rock
We’re on a mission, support the cause, sign a petition, summon all your wisdom
The music’s a gift from the man on high, the Lord and His children
Triple team here of rude boys, come rain or snow, the Buddha flows
You don’t know? Stand on the corner, watch the show ’cause life moves slow
Sort your shit out then roll, sex, drugs and on the dole
Some men rise, some men fall, I hear your call, stand tall now
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
I’m just spitting, think I’m ghetto? Stop dreaming, my data’s streaming
I’m giving your bird them feelings, touch your toes then touch the ceiling
We walk the tightrope of street cred
Keep my dogs fed, all jungle, all garage heads
Gold teeth, Valentinos and dreads now
We were verbally slapped up, physically tip-top, spinally ripped up
I do the science on my laptop and I get my boys mashed up
You’re listening to The Streets
You’ll bear witness to some amazing feats
Bravery in the face of defeat
All line up and grab your seat
‘Cause Tony’s got a new motor
SR Nova, driving like a joyrider
Speeding to the corner
Your mother warned ya, it’s a sound system banger
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
My Underground train runs from Mile End to Ealing
From Brixton to Boundsgreen
My spitting’s dirty, my beats are clean, so smoke weed and be lean
I step out my yard through the streets
In the dead heat, all I got’s my spirit and my beats
I play fair, don’t cheat and keep the gangsters sweet
Turn the page, don’t rip it out at your age, move to the next stage
Lock the rage inside the cage, like SK, it’s a new day
But don’t take the shortcut through the subway
It’s pay or play, these geezers walk the gangway
Deep seated urban decay, deep seated urban decay
Rip down posters I like from last week’s big garage night
And the next Tyson fight
I cook ’em at ninety degrees Fahrenheit and don’t copy the copyright
I got ’em in my sights
Blinding with the lights, taken to dizzy new heights
Blinding with the lights, blinding with the lights
Dizzy new heights
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
Has it come to this? Oh, oh, oh, oh
Original Pirate Material
You’re listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial
In the combustion of urban life and electronic beats, Mike Skinner, the maestro behind the UK’s The Streets, drops a manifesto of metropolitan existence with ‘Has It Come to This?’. Released as part of their debut album, ‘Original Pirate Material’ (2002), the song is a blend of rap, garage, and electronica that delivers a gritty, poetic take on life in the city. Riddled with the patois of the British street, the track is a window into the mind of a generation adrift in the gray areas between legality, morality, and survival.
The Streets captured the pulse of early-2000s UK suburbia, where garage music reigned supreme and pirate radios blasted the latest underground tunes. In ‘Has It Come to This?’ Skinner takes the listener through a labyrinth of urban escapism, social commentary, and personal reflection, all wrapped in a sound as raw as the subjects he delves into. The Streets doesn’t just give us a song; they provide a soundtrack to the lives of countless youth trying to navigate the unrelenting cityscape.
Peering Through the ‘Original Pirate Material’
The curtain rises with ‘Original Pirate Material’, a phrase that’s both a nod to the underground music scene and a self-assured declaration of The Streets’ authenticity. Within the garbled airwaves where mainstream and counterculture collide, Skinner’s voice becomes the unvarnished narrative of inner-city life. From the outset, the repetitive hook ‘Has it come to this?’ poses an open-ended question, suggesting a sense of disbelief or resignation at the state of affairs.
The anthem-like statement sets the stage, insisting on the significance of the message. Through referring to ‘lock down your aerial’, the song binds listeners in a collective experience, urging them to resonate not just with the sound but with the story it brings. It’s about participation – a communal resonance with the struggles and realities laid bare in the lyricism.
The Sonic Fabric of Street Life: Beats and Rhymes
Skinner’s beats are as clean as the picture he paints is gritty, reflecting the juxtapositions inherent in urban life. There’s a smoothness to the production that belies the jarring experiences mundanely narrated. ‘My beats are clean,’ he asserts, offering a near-spiritual experience through the rhythm. The beats serve as the pulse of the city, marking the passage of time as the narratives of many lives intertwine within its measures.
The tempo isn’t rushed; it mimics the ‘life moves slow’ observation, embodying the languid pace that belies the undercurrent of tension and urgency often found on the streets. It’s this very synergy of the laid-back flow of garage beats with the stark lyricism that positions The Streets as a true aural cartographer of urban landscapes.
A Stand Against Stereotypes and Expectation
‘I’m just spitting, think I’m ghetto? Stop dreaming,’ Skinner challenges, confronting the listener with a refusal to be stereotype. He rejects the notion that his articulations are mere echoes of ‘ghetto life’. Instead, he insists on the examination of complex human experiences that defy box-ticking. His is a journey through street credibility, but it defies the expected script, celebrating ‘all jungle, all garage heads’ with an inclusivity that transcends race and class.
Skinner’s lyrics push back against simple narratives, demanding a deeper engagement with the cultural milieu from which they emerge. He’s not just drawing portraits of characters; he’s giving voice to a whole ecosystem where gold-toothed Valentinos and jungle-music aficionados coexist in defiance of societal limitations.
The Hidden Reflections of Urban Existence
The refrain, ‘Has it come to this?’ goes from catchy hook to philosophical musing with repeated listens. The Streets presents a mirror to the faces of the unseen city dwellers, questioning the place of youth in the larger societal canvas. Beyond the veneer of bravado is an introspective examination of existential angst. The song implicitly asks where the individual fits in the asphalt jungle – whether they rise or fall in the struggle for identity and survival.
Skinner’s musings traverse the spectrum of the urban experience, from recreational drug use to societal alienation (‘sex, drugs, and on the dole’). The song’s hidden meaning doesn’t offer solutions but rather a tell-it-like-it-is snapshot, inviting listeners to ponder their own place against the backdrop of the city’s ever-unfolding narratives.
Memorable Lines That Capture the Zeitgeist
A storyteller of the street, Skinner crafts memorable couplets that distill the essence of an age. ‘Sex, drugs and on the dole, some men rise, some men fall, I hear your call, stand tall now,’ carries the weight of a generation’s challenges – it’s a clarion call to not surrender to the circumstances that life has dealt. The imagery of blinding lights and dizzying heights marks a zenith where the constraints of the lived experience meet the liberating aspect of the music.
The song constantly throws up contrasts – between the light and the dark, the gritty and the sleek, the personal and the communal – marking ‘Has It Come to This?’ as an anthem that doesn’t just reflect its time; it defines it. The urgency of these lines lingers, encouraging listeners to grasp the reins of their destiny, no matter the shadows that loom.
