Grand Don't Come For Free, A [PA] - Streets (The)

The Streets, no not where my little card board box of a home is placed, under the wet skies of Paisley, but the Brummie musician formerly known as Mike Skinner, and his garage music. Keeping this review to a similar vein as my Katie Melua one (just with out the obvious "I want them" of seething sexual undertones). Like Melua I'm not really much of a fan of similar artists (Garage music, just isn't my thing, neither is a mockney accent), going as far as to thinking the "T" in "Jamie T" stand for either "Tosser" or "Twat". Who is The Streets? The Streets is the alias used by 28 year old rapper ... more

This album does have a parental advisory on it and this review does contain reference to this although when this is mentioned, it is written with asterix. I first became aware of The Streets when they released Fit but You Know It way back in May 2004. I thought the song was very catchy and loved it but I only bought the album after hearing their next single from the album Dry Your Eyes which was played on loop for many weeks in my bedroom! Who are The Streets? The Streets are an English garage project from Birmingham. They are led by Mike Skinner who has been a member of the project since 1994 ... more

I didn't think for one second that I would like The Streets. The very concept of some bloke talking about his boring life over music just made me shudder with dread. "I hear people talking about their boring lives all the time," thought I, "why on earth would I want to buy an album full of someone I don't even know doing it?". So I was really surprised to discover that I really enjoyed hearing "Dry Your Eyes" on the radio, sniggering to myself every time I heard the line "pushing my hand away to my chest...from hers", and being genuinely touched by the lyrics. It was this song, and this song ... more

A Grand don't come for free was the second album that I purchased by The Street and having since purchased a third it is still my favourite, originally I had not really got the whole buzz and hype that surrounded The Streets and the critical acclaim that lead singer Mike Skinner attracted however once I saw them perform live I was hooked. The Streets have a garage style of music that is as much a social commentary on the life of the twenty something city dwelling male in the current economic climate as it is about constructing dance tunes. This particular album is effectively an account of a ... more

I put this CD on again last night, and forgot what a masterpiece it is, so I thought I would write a review (also there is nothing to do in the office today), and make all of you go give it a go (even if you just listen to clips off of Amazon!). Ok The Streets is Birmingham musician Mike Skinner, who is a very English rap artist, some compare him to the likes of eminem, but don't listen, they are way off the mark. He recorded his first album Original Pirate Material in 2002, and has now become some sort of a musical legend, I supposed that part of the reason is that Original Pirate Material ... more