The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come for Free
I’ve been listening to A Grand Don’t Come for Free, the new(ish) album by The Streets. If you know The Streets, you know Mike Skinner has a distinctive style. If you don’t know The Streets, read “distinctive style” as “absolutely no flow”. None at all. I actually think it’s worse than on his first album. It seriously hurts to listen to. Now, don’t get me wrong; I like the record. It’s a well-done concept album that tracks a relationship birth-to-death. I just wish Mike would be less “distinctive” and more “good”. I don’t need Jay-Z-quality flow. Just more like, say, early Fresh Prince.
It’s not just the English accent, either. The accent is strange to listen to at first, but it doesn’t preclude flow. Dizzee Rascal is proof of that. Speaking of Dizzee Rascal, I just ordered his new(ish) album, Showtime, and it’s on its way here as we speak. Maybe I’ll write about that in a couple weeks.
Update! - I’ve been told this post “sucks,” for “some reason. I don’t know why.” So in an effort to please my loyal reader, I’ll try to explain a little better.
Mike Skinner is a terrible emcee, but that doesn’t mean The Streets is bad music. A Grand Don’t Come for Free is good because of the music and the lyrics. The lyrics, mostly introspective, but perceptive when focused on others’ actions or body language, are sharply written; he seems to always use the right word or phrase. If that means his flow is awkward and jerky, so be it. The beats are fairly minimal and seem to fall into one of two camps: the beats that I didn’t really care for that work quite well with the lyrical content, and the beats I loved that work quite well with the lyrical content.
So that’s why I liked the album, despite the lurpy flow.
When I first posted this, I didn’t want to write a review of the album. Other people do that kind of thing much better than I can. I just wanted to comment on something I was listening to and a thought I had about it. I’m kinda random like that.
February 8th, 2005 at 11:38 pm
thanks- sorry i told you i didnt like it- the new explanation is better
February 12th, 2005 at 11:49 pm
i think it’s dangerous in hip hop to seperate music/lyrics/flow/beat/etc. i mean, we can talk about it seperately but lyrics are bad (for instance) if they don’t fit a meter/flow/beat, regardless of their semantic content (that’s the way i see it). that’s an example. but i agree that the streets has its own aesthetic british herky jerky whatever, and i’m also not into it.
February 14th, 2005 at 1:33 pm
foxes,
I agree with you, more or less. I probably could have phrased things better. It’s not like you could read a novel over a beat and call it hip-hop, and the fact that I like the words Mike uses doesn’t mean they’re “good” in a fit-with-the-rest-of-the-song sense. I just think that any other set of lyrics would sound more or less the same; he’s just awkward-sounding, whether it’s intentional or not.
I guess I’m trying to approach The Streets on its own terms. He’s not trying to be an Andre 3000, so I feel bad faulting him for that.
I’m kind of uncomfortable thinking of The Streets as hip-hop anyways. I just don’t know where else to stick ‘em.
March 30th, 2005 at 4:23 am
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