UR TV CAST

This debate, as often happens with the Mitchells, brings out their inner Vicky Pollard.Tony: “We argue a lot We will always argue. That’s the way it goes.”Teddy: “No, but, yeah, he likes to argue a lot.”Tony: “No man, I just like to get my point across.”Teddy: “Yeah, even when he knows he’s wrong, he’s stubborn.”Tony: “Oh, he’s stubborn. [To me] He’s the most stubborn! [To Teddy]: You’re the most stubborn…”Tony splutters to a halt, outrage robbing him of all speech.Contrary to this impressive display of sibling rivalry, they’re not really brothers, but second cousins Nor is Mitchell their real name. Tony Nyanin, 24, has always lived in Manor Park, east London.

Teddy Hanson, also 24, was born in Dagenham and now lives “two minutes” from Mike Skinner in Stockwell, south London.They entered this world only nine days apart (Tony is older), and have been mates forever, meeting up at family gatherings over the years, doing little breakdancing routines and, in their late teens, starting to rap together.Another cousin of Teddy, clocking that Teddy and Tony were always hanging out together and were always squabbling, said they were just like EastEnders’ Grant and Phil. Recognising that this sobriquet was a) funny, b) memorable and c) an effective way of telegraphing the Britishness they wanted to be absolutely integral to their hip-hop and garage, Teddy and Tony adopted the name the Mitchell Brothers.Tony: “We looked at [the name] on a bigger scale. Anyone in the UK, whether they’re white, black or Asian, will be able to get it. You know that stereotypical name that a lot of artists use?”Teddy: “Like.. Something Squad or… Something Crew?”Tony: “That whole American thing? A lot of artists lose identity because there’s so much influence from America – wearing a Boston Celtics cap with a bandana and a basketball top and Air Force One [trainers]. The Mitchell Brothers couldn’t do that.”In summer 2002, Teddy was in the Brixton branch of Barclay’s, paying a bill for his mum.

In front of him in the queue was a bloke he knew he recognised. His bag was slightly open, and inside it Teddy could see CDs and cables. That confirmed it: it had to be Mike Skinner.It was funny, because The Streets’ first album, Original Pirate Material, had recently come out Teddy and Tony had been listening to it a lot. Actually it was doubly funny: Tony had been joking that “we need to meet Mike.

We need to start the Cockney Rotten Rhymers! He’s British, and he’s using his accent – that’s what we want to do!”Fortunately that morning in the bank, Teddy had on him some CDs containing sample snippets of their songs. One was called “Keep it Geezer”, their riposte to the American hip-hop notion of “Keeping It Gangsta”. Teddy did a “reverse pickpocket manoeuvre” and slipped a CD and his phone number into Skinner’s bag Skinner called that evening. “Who is this?” he said, followed by, “We should do something together.” The Mitchell Brothers were rolling.Nearly.