Mike Skinner: Social media lacks context


Mike Skinner thinks social media lacks "context".
The 41-year-old music star has admitted that some of his most popular hits, like 2004's 'Fit but You Know It', might look dated by present-day standards, but he thinks social media users need to be more conscious of contextual factors before they criticise his work.
Mike - who is best known for the music project The Streets - reflected: "I think social media is going to have to find a way of addressing the context thing.
"I think context exists in the real world, what someone looks like is quite important to what they're saying. And on Twitter you don't get that to any sort of satisfactory level.
"And it also works when you're looking back at stuff. So probably at best 'Fit But You Know It' can just be seen as something cheeky that's maybe of its time.
"In context of FHM culture and Nuts magazine, it's probably a bit more woke than that, but definitely less woke than now."
Mike has also voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, admitting he's been encouraged by its recent momentum.
And the London-born rapper believes the public are starting to recognise the difference "between racist people and racist systems".
Speaking to The Independent about the Black Lives Matter movement, he explained: "It's been incredibly moving.
"It's easy for me to say, but I don't think racist people are the problem, even though they are being quite vocal on Twitter. I think racist systems are by orders of magnitude more damaging.
"I think what's going on at the moment is people are starting to understand the difference between racist people and racist systems."