Disco de The Streets: “Original Pirate Material [PA]”

Was so far under the radar that it's a crime. This record is the best hip-hop record of 2002 you never heard.

Well, calling it a hip-hop record is a little disengenuous. The vocal stylings of this one-man show (UK layabout Mike Skinner) come off like rap, but the vocal rhythm is all over the place and it ends up coming off like spoken word more than rap. Thing is, the second you think he's going in one direction, it flips into others and we're left with a record that almost defies every category but trip-hop comfortably. Even the beats are all over the place in context: dance, hip-hop, drum-n-bass...the kid's got a mad record collection at home.

It's catchy stuff, with sung choruses and VERY funny stories if you can decipher the UK dialect ("roight? Sod off, blud'y bastard!"). He's got smart, great takes on the music industry ("Let's Push Things Forward"), the legalization of weed, youth rebellion and Playstation, especially on a super-witty self-duet entitled "The Irony of it All" about how off it is that alcohol is legal and weed isn't, especially in light of the (here) frequently comicly violent outcome of alcholics when weighed against the puff-puff-live philosophies of your average weedhead. This track is a instant classic.

The beats are almost straight old school, but fresh, bootleg-like takes on the genre. "Sharp Darts" and "Geezers Need Excitement" could just as easily have ended up on a dozen hip-hop records that came out last week. The more dance-oriented fare even manages to keep the attention of the electronic illiterate on tracks like "Has It Come To This?"

The cool thing about this record is that it isn't about being the best rapper or having the most vast and overwrought production, it's about being oneself...something The Streets does with not only grace, but a sharp eye for what wins hearts.

This is a very good album. Like others, I struggle to place this music in an particular category, although The Streets already preempts us on that when it tells us not to pigeonhole it. It's vaguely garage/hiphop/rap stuff, but with such observant lyrics that it falls into part of a whole British tradition of ordinary day, blokeish, vaguely working-class life (Madness, The Jam, The Smiths, even the occasional old Beatles track). Though everyone, including Mike Skinner himself, says this is a day in the life of a geezer, I prefer to look at it as a day in the life of a forty-fifth generation Roman (for no real reason other than because that is one of the best lines in the whole album). We get stories of clubbing, pubbing, pulling, shagging, getting dumped, getting mashed, getting high, getting rowdy. The tunes are pretty infectious too, from the high-tempo anthem of 'Turn the Page', the single 'Has it Come to This?', to the brilliant 'Same Old Thing'.

This is not a perfect album, but it's still amazingly good nevertheless, and hopefully there is more to come. It is humorous, well observed, accessible to anyone who hasn't bought this kind of stuff before, and the best available insight for outside audiences into what British youth culture is like today (forget your Austen cinematic adaptations and middle-class Hughtopias). Lyrics like these: 'we first met through a shared view / She loved me and I did too'; 'so you tell your mates you could have him anyway, to look geeze / But he's / A shady .../ Beemer three series / Lock stock and two fat ... backing him up'; 'all down, nice sounds, Smirnoff Ice rounds' . . . Full of fun, full of social and political relevance, great stuff. . It's a shame there are no lyrics printed, because basically this is poetry at its finest, full of slang and catchprases, but in a way the lack of printed lyrics forces you to pay attention to what is said. Let's hope it can be matched in the follow-up.

It truly shocked me to see this album at the top of several magazines and other publications' "Best Albums of 2002" lists, but of course, that was before I actually downloaded a few songs from the "Original Pirate Material" album. Upon purchasing the album, I slowly came to realize (after multiple required listenings..) that this album is more than amazing, intense, and surprisingly unique & original, it's just downright revolutionary for hip-hop music and culture.

First of all, if you've never heard The Streets (Mike Skinner), but you HAVE heard he's a young English chap with a heavy accent, DON'T, by all means, believe the negative hype, as I myself certainly could not picture at first, to be most frank, a white British dude flashing his "Bling" in front of a stadium crowd of 25,000, which is basically what today's American rap music has been reduced to. Of course, these are just stereotypes talking, and there are several exceptions as well, however, after listening to "Original Pirate Material", Skinnner has clearly proven to be one of the most elite lyricists I've ever heard in my life.

His words are unquestionably true and direct, this can be seen even without a degree in recent British history. Just the average teenager who's seen Trainspotting a few times can recognize the downsides of drug use and abuse in the song "Stay Positive." Several of his songs use also more than just a few ounces of politics to further add to his effectiveness and lyrical strength.

I'll be more than happy to reason with anyone who might say "British people shouldn't rap.." The stereotypes are sometimes just too strong to overcome for most people, i understand, but I personally feel that this album should be required listening for every friggin teenager in the country, even if its only for lyrical analysis, as his words are more than enough to prove Mike Skinner as a master lyricist.

Maybe its because mike skinner is a brummie and im living in birmingham, but this album is close to my heart. His line about the "fog over the bullring" is particulary poigniant, as the other day i passed the "bullring" in birmingham city centre (some skyscraper type thingy) and there were gentle swirls of fog dancing around the blue lights at the top. A tear almost came to my eye. thats the power of this album. when listening, there are certain things you have to remember: this album is unique, its not to be taken too seriously, this is a specific slice of englishness, hes not trying to be a rapper or eminem for that matter, it cant really be compared to anything else. when you remember these things, you will understand it. To be honest im surprised that so many americans can understand it. but im not complaining.

As another reviewer in the UK basically said, it is rare to have an album come along that basically hits reset on your faith in musical innovation. Its not so much that i'm gonna go out and buy every UK hip hop/garage/whatever album, BUT BUT BUT, wouldn't you know it, before billy bragg and the blokes come on stage at the 9:30 club in DC i hear the sounds of what i would later find out was this guy streets, aka mike skinner. Thanks so much to whomever it was associated with billy and the blokes who passed along that info. to keep my comments as short as possible, this is how good this record is....i paid 30 dollars for it (import, its not available in the us, but thats about par for the us music course). this album is worth twice that. wow.