The Streets Album: “A Grand Don't Come For Free [PA]”

I guess if you're looking for cookie cutter, formulaic rap music . . . you know, the kind you can find on just about every popular music station in the country, this cd isn't for you. If you don't like to really take the time to listen to lyrics, catch the meaning of a phrase said in different wording, or god forbid, try to decipher another accent, then this cd isn't for you either.

If you do like music that sounds different from the outset, that has funny lyrics about something other than the amount of cars or bitches one has, this may be right up your alley. Mike Skinner tells a story all through the cd. It took me a couple of listens before I realized that the songs string together and relate to one another. Listening to it, I felt like I was listening to a friend tell me about his past couple of days. I thought it was refreshingly different and there isn't one song that I fast forward through. Most of all, the guy sounds sincere. I believe what he's saying, that he actually may have experienced these things. I also really enjoyed the english slang and down to earth sense of humor thrown in there.

Just judge it for yourself. It isn't like the "rap" music you often hear in the states. In fact, it wasn't even in the rap section of the store I bought it in originally. It was classified as electronica. Whatever the hell it is, I love it and I hope to hear more from the talented Mr. Skinner.

Before I owned this album, I had a few misconceptions about popular music.

1. Music artists are interested in creating a larger-than-life public image. It is very important that people believe the artist is MUCH cooler than they are.

2. Popular music is about hooking people with a catchy single. If you can get a song in someone's head, they'll check out the artist.

3. As genres are blended together, everything is starting to sound the same.

Well, Mike Skinner has made an album that proves that none of these things are true.

First, Skinner is not trying to be cool. In fact, he goes out of the way to be as honest and self-aware as possible. Every emotion and private thought is spelled out, even ones he likely wouldn't share with his closest confidant.

Second, this is a concept album. It tells a story, and progresses in a logical, theatrical way. The songs are infectious, but after you experience the album as a whole, it seems WRONG to separate one song. It would be like releasing only one scene from a movie on DVD.

Finally, this album mixes as many genres of music as any other, yet NOBODY is making music that sounds like this.

I listen to this constantly. Every time I hear it, I grin and shake my head in wonder at its brilliance.

It's as fun and emotionally satisfying as anything you're likely to hear for a long time. Buy it and be amazed.

In the day in age when a rapper can sell millions of albums talking almost exclusively about what he's gonna do to his hoes, how many bullets the most recent blood-feud has spent up in his banana clip, or his cash, Micheal Skinner bursts thru with his fresh, intellegent sophomore release (A Grand Don't Come for Free)that breaths a breath of fresh air into this often times trite and stagnante genre. Seething with wit and replacing the irreverent fun of the first album with a darker more serious tone, this album's year-in-the-life approach to Skinner's life paints a vivid picture of life, love, friends and loss. The songs are constructed w/simple beats and poetic lyrics offset with Skinners cockney delivery. I've had this album since it came out and have listened to it almost contuniously since then; while those of you who have a love for Snoop's weed talk or 50 Cent talkin' his street hate probably won't find what your looking for here, people who like deep lyrics and vivid stories definatly have something to look forward to. This is my favorite album of 2004.

You I really liked OPM a lot, but like with a lot of hip hop, I found it at times repetitive and sometimes could not listen to the whole thing. I found it pretty groundbreaking though. So, that is why this album comes as such a surprise.

Some of my favorite albums take a lot of listens to like them and the first time I heard this album, I didn't get it and I didn't really like it. After hearing this album a couple times, I really start to like it. After listening to this album a couple more times after that, I started to get it.

Yes, this is a concept album and a subtle one at that. This is an album where I've actually related to the artist about love, friends, loss and even phones. The song, "Blinded by the Light" reminds me of a time I was supposed to meet some friends at a club and just sat there feeling alone. "Could Well Be In" reminds me of what it's like to meet someone you really like and not trying to seem to eager to get to know her. The point I am making is that Mike seems to take topics that are not that big of a deal, but in the grand scheme of things, mean a hell of a whole lot. This is like listening to a spoken word album.

I agree with one reviewer who said that this is the best album of the year so far. That said, this is definitely not for everyone. If you're looking for great beats and something to show off your sound system, this album is not for you. But if you are looking for something different and will challenge you, than this album is definitely for you.

If you own or have listened to Mike Skinner's previous album 'Original Pirate Material', you should know right now that this album is not of the same ken, although the rap style is more or less the same. The songs on this album are not dancy or aggressive and they don't stand very well on their own.

That's okay, though. They weren't meant to be like that. Mike has gone and avoided doing the thing that loses so many new bands their popularity --- he didn't try to make a second first album. Like I said, this album is a CD of a different color. It's a story; it was written as a coherent block of Skinner's life (whether real or imaginary, I don't know), and it feels as much like a book as a piece of music.

That's the coolest part about this album, I think. It's meant to be played from start to finish with no tracks skipped, and everyone I know who has heard it has agreed with me that the final moments of the last song make the listener feel the same way that reading the last page of a really cool book does.

I give it five stars for originality, for lyrical quality, and for...whatever that feeling I just described is.