Grand Don't Come For Free, A [PA] - Streets (The) > Reviews > Where did the Original Material go, Pirate?

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	One hit and lots of B-sides
Value for Money

Advantages:	Mikeee's Originality
Disadvantages:	Mikeee is losing his originality

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I started listening to the Streets just before he got famous. I heard “Don’t mug yourself” on a radio-show playing not released-single tracks. I just thought it was hilarious and bought the album. Unlike many other Streets-lovers I don’t think Mikeee’s brilliant. I do not think he offer “the truth on what’s really going on out on the streets”. I liked the Streets because he offered something new, a new beat and a new sound. I wouldn’t call it rap. Mikeee is simply talking and the “music” is so simple it becomes brilliant. But the main keyword has always been “funny” to me. Not so serious.

But when the Streets suddenly became the most honoured band of 2002 everything suddenly got out of portion. It is never easy to follow up a top-selling album and it is defiantly not easy when you have been cheered to being genuine, someone picked up from the street, an authentic normal young person just telling the simple story of your life. How can you make a new album and keep that authenticity for being just a no-one when you have spent the last two years on radio and TV-shows, being invited to all the famous parties and with more money on your bank account than you can possibly spend?

I would have liked to see the Streets shift grounds, doing something totally new and if he really wanted to stay on the “Mikeee just talking into a mike”-sound, done something either very serious or very ironic (“Life as being famous” would have worked on both). But for some reason Mikeee thinks we don’t know that he's spent the last year making bigger bucks than we can dream of and he keeps on doing the same old thing about chicks and kicks, pretending to be something he used to be, but is no more. Not very renewing at all, and the music has lost that feeling of being genuin. Now it just feels like "Oh, I can make money on this? Let's repeat it then!".

“A grand don’t come for free” will probably sell loads anyway. Everybody loved the last album, everybody simply loves Mikeee and since everybody called him the next generation’s Elvis probably everybody will say that this is a great album, just to keep face on what they’ve said before. Don’t let this fool you.
“A grand don’t come for free” just repeats “Original pirate material” but without any original material at all. Mikeee keeps on talking and the only new thing is that he now tries to sing a few choruses too. This is new but far from brilliant. So, the fact is that you still laugh when you listen to the Streets. It’s just that now you laugh AT him. Why didn’t someone tell him that there is a reason why bad singers never get a contract? This is just pathetic. I am sorry Mikeee.