| |
|
Music Archives:
Most Recent
| Highest
Rated | Alphabetical
| Highest Rated 2006
Skinned Alive
 |
|
The Streets: The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
Vice / 679, 2006
Rating: 3.7
|
|
Posted:
April 25,
2006
By
Laurence Station
The cover of
Original Pirate Material, Mike Skinner’s debut as The Streets, displayed
a tenement building. The even stronger follow-up,
A Grand Don’t
Come for Free, revealed Skinner waiting at a bus stop. The Hardest
Way to Make an Easy Living shows Skinner leaning against a Rolls Royce,
revealing just how far the British rapper has come in a few short years.
He’s clearly moved above street level and can now be found a few stories up,
in posh hotel rooms with well-stocked mini-bars and fetching girls agreeable
to cocaine being snorted off of lithe, tan limbs.
True to form, Skinner relates precisely what his existence consists of
presently. The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living lacks the
overarching ambition of Pirate Material, and it doesn’t exhibit the
storytelling smarts or infectious hooks of Grand. But it’s not
without its merits. The production is diverse and polished. The suitably
frenetic “Pranging Out” conveys cracking up from a fame casualty’s
perspective (“Snort more tour support and then have a drink, the bruise on
the side of my head is madly banging”). “Memento Mori” serves up snappy
witticisms like “If love is blind then why do we all buy lingerie?” and
captures the feeling of a wide-eyed kid loosed in an adult playground (“I
don't really care about the luck and the look / But driving a Ferrari is
fucking book”). “Never Went to Church” is a surprisingly poignant reflection
on losing a parent.
Easy Living simply lacks the scope and gritty, lived-in detail that
made Skinner’s first two efforts so appealing. Part of the problem is its
brevity -- it clocks in ten minutes shorter than the debut. The insights
lack bite, as well. “War of the Sexes” isn’t saying anything particularly
profound with observations like “You're not playing at hard to get / You're
playing at not getting a hard-on yet.” “Two Nations” attempts to make some
penetrating corollary between stardom in America and the UK (in a nutshell,
the UK tolerates its artists while America kills theirs), but loses its
footing with defensive comments like “Understated is how we prefer to be /
That's why I've sold three millions and you've never heard of me.”
Easy Living is not a whiny, poor-little-rich-boy tale, however.
Skinner’s too self-aware to fall into that self-pitying pit. Thus, it’s
foolish to knock the man for writing about the price and pressures of
stardom. Skinner writes what he knows, and this is what he’s currently
experiencing. Also, this is not some choir boy corrupted by wealth and fame
serving up a mawkish morality tale, just a hard-nosed kid from humble means
made good hanging on to the dragon’s tail of celebrity for all it's worth.
References to drugs and gambling appeared on the first two Streets releases;
the main difference is that now Skinner can afford more expensive drugs and
place larger bets. Regardless of intent, Skinner’s got plenty of material
for his next album: The Backlash Is a Bitch.
Site
design copyright © 2001-2007 Shaking Through.net. All original artwork,
photography and text used on this site is the sole copyright of the respective creator(s)/author(s). Reprinting, reposting, or citing any of the original
content appearing on this site without the written consent of Shaking
Through.net is strictly forbidden. Contact us at
shaking@shakingthrough.net if
you wish to use any of the material published here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
