There was a bit much about this record not living up to the scattershot genius of Original Pirate Material and his new and interesting take on a concept album (that with an uninteresting protagonist), A Grand Don't Come Free but seriously FUCK IT, guys. The Streets' third record finds mixing the usual jumpy and disjointed beats with trance-synthesizer loops that sound like they came straight out of a Snap or Haddaway record. I guess sometimes it's hard to live up to your own hype, and strangely enough that's exactly what this record is about.
Where on the last record, Streets bro Mike Skinner found himself an audience of normal twenty-somethings who try to take money out of the ATM to find they have insufficient funds, this record starts out almost immediately with the pretty widely unrelatable lyric "I get back from tour and suddenly it doesn't seem like much fun to be off my face at quarter to 11am." I think that the deatched-from-reality standpoint on this record is what makes it interesting; mainstream hip-hop is often lyrically talking about how much money you've got and how you spend it. So why is it that when Ghostface Killah or Kanye West rap about money everybody seems proud, but when Mike Skinner does it it seems awkward?
I think it's because Mike Skinner seems like a normal dude, sitting at a laptop making beats and playing videogames like a million other hopeful musicians in the world. I think his honest look at what happens when the mainstream all of a sudden comes to you is quite a bit more relatable than what would happen if Ghostface started rapping about finding a life-changing $1,000 lodged behind his TV. Granted some of the beats and lyrics on this record are a bit much, but that's why The Streets are great... it's got ups and downs, and there can be points on the record when you cringe but there's also moments when you rewind and listen over and over. Also "When You Wasn't Famous" combined British underground white rap and Reggaeton. Best song ever. Blast it.
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