Published on Sep 1, 2004
In the world of rap, Mike Skinner (aka The Streets) is the
ultimate outsider: a Brit living a continent away from the where
the majority of rap is produced, and a songwriter whose characters
can only dream of rolling in a Mercedes Benz — they’re too busy
getting wasted and worrying about paying the rent.
The mundane is Mike Skinner’s muse in the absolutely
mind-blowing
A Grand Don’t Come For Free. The album is a loosely-threaded
concept album about a paranoid, drug-addled, but somehow loveable
bloke who experiences one shit day. He wakes and tries to take back
a DVD, loses a grand and falls in and out of love…a few
times. The concept of a grand is a great focal point of Skinner’s
vision; in a Method Man album, a grand is chump change — a tip for
a waiter or a good lap dance. But in Skinner’s world, it seems like
it’s the only thing that our anti-hero has going for him.
Even though the material is hardly enough to populate one song,
let alone a concept album, Mike Skinner gives these moments an epic
feel. Getting stoned and watching the television, betting on
football, having your television go on the fritz and those f***ing
cell phones! — Mike Skinner’s production blows these moments up
into a Dr. Dre-meets-Jerry Bruckheimer extravaganza. Take the song
“Wouldn’t have it any other way”; the stoned, agitated main
character has an internal argument with himself, getting pissed at
his girlfriend, who wants to do nothing but spend the day with him
smoking a roach on the couch. He’d rather be with his friends,
smoking weed and watching television on their couch. But he quickly
resents his friends (who he suspects lifted his grand) and wishes
nothing more than to be with his girlfriend, on the couch and, yes,
getting stoned.
Drugs play a central role in The Streets albums. Skinner daftly
shows the paranoia, helplessness and frustrations that seep into
each of the characters’ lives. However, he spends equal time
describing the highs the main character experiences.
If you are looking for smooth delivery,
A Grand Don’t Come For Free may not be your cup of tea. The
argumentative “Get out of my house” is hard to listen to without
cracking a smile with Skinner’s stumbling, tone-deaf delivery.
Still, that gives the album a punk-rock edge. And lyrically, no rap
album this year will likely match the honesty of such lines like:
“See, I reckon you are an eight or a nine / maybe even a
9-and-a-half in four beers time.”
With all of Skinner’s boasting, he pulls an Axl Rose and gives
us a “Sweet Child of Mine” of the post 9/11 world-type ballad with
“Dry Your Eyes.” The song comes toward the end of the album, where
the main character’s relationship is irreparable. Very little is
said between the characters; Skinner keeps his descriptions honed
on the non-verbal gestures. It’s risky and Skinner pulls it off
triumphantly.
A Grand Don’t Come For Free may not be the best album of the
year — that award could very well come in the form of the reissue
of The Clash’s
London Calling near the end of the year. However, the album
is a much-needed hypo-injection of originality in the music world.
The closing track “Empty cans” gives the album an almost Hollywood
ending. And who knows, maybe in a year, fans will be lining up for
midnight showings of a movie based on this album, much like kids
did in the ’80s with
The Wall. The scope may be much smaller, but Mike Skinner
revitalizes the concept album as well as rock and rap in 2004.