Straight Out'er Birmingham
Written: Nov 24 '02 (Updated Nov 24 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A glimpse into working class Britian life and culture through a unique voice
Cons: A couple of songs feature rather rudimentary bedroom beats
The Bottom Line: A journey through British streets with 22-year old Mike Skinner narrating the action - drifting from the bars, to the clubs, to getting stoned and then back again.
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| e-kleptic's Full Review: Original Pirate Material - The Streets Movies |
Mike Skinner has many things working against him. First of all, Skinner is a white "MC"/producer from Birmingham, England which means you won't find him anytime soon on DJ Clue's next mixtape. Of course, the United Kingdom has given us Slick Rick and Roots Manuva but for the most part attempts to mix the dialectical speech pattern of the British with hip-hop has proved disastrous. On top of that, Skinner has no image to sell - he's a rather ordinary-looking twenty-or-something. In need for a convienent reference point, the press has mislead the public by dubbing him the British Eminem. Suburban teens picking up Skinner expecting some more violent psychopathy to live vicariously through will be disappointed. Then there's the thick Cockney accent which sounds like a Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange trying to rhyme about "the old in-out, real savage". Finally, Skinner calls himself The Streets which in the hip-hop world requires quite a bit of that intangible medium of exchange called "street cred". And if you're representing Birmingham, your chances of being taken seriously are low.
However, before you dismiss The Streets however, take note that things are not exactly tea cups and crumpets in Birmingham. A major industrial city, Birmingham has been marred with crime and heavy bombing from World War II from which its landscape has never really recovered. Rebuilding efforts were somewhat successful - resulting in the overcrowded housing units. Skinner documents the highs and lows of British youth culture - traversing a world of dance clubs, weed, Playstations, junkies, rude boys, drunks, and other rootless forms of nocturnal activity. Think Trainspotting set to a two-step hip-hop beat. What separates Skinner from the countless other British MCs who have failed is that he doesn't try and imitate American hip-hop rather he has crafted a singular voice that is startingly original. His delivery is half spoken-poetry/half rapping - a low-key conversational manner which eases alongside the beat with stride. On "Original Pirate Material", Skinner's delivery feels natural and unforced - explaining minute details with narrative compulsion as he walks from the dealer's flat to McDonalds. At first listen, ears might have difficulty adjusting to exactly what Skinner is trying to say - minor discrepencies in slang such as "oi" replacing "yo" or "birds" replacing "b*tches" take some time to sink in.
Turn The Page opens the album up - driven by an urgent orchestra-string section that crescendos in volume and magnitude as the song climbs higher - it serves as more of an intro than a completed song. Listeners are greeted with Skinner's relaxed yet passionate voice rallying support around him. "You can't do off / my crew laughs at your rhubarb and custard verses / you rain down curses / but im waving your hearses driving by." It's Skinner's manner of painting an evocative imagery of the Britian streets that makes him convincing - making the hazy fog and the "lazy way the birds sing" seem chilling as a Gothic novel. It's an appropriate intro that gives the album cohesion. It leads into the single which has been knocking its way up the radio charts (in the UK) and found airplay in the clubs. Has It Come To This marries Skinner's rave culture influences with his hip-hop tendencies - fashioning a chilled-out 2-step beat with a reverb male vocal sample as a hook. What's the difference between a hip-hop beat and a 2-step beat? It's hard to explain to a newcomer - but basically a 2-step beat borrows more from drum 'n bass polyrhythms featuring a garage techno flavor. On Has It Come To This, Skinner produces a light-hearted beat that flutters with a toy-like piano. It's no wonder the song has found its way into clubs: catchy enough to draw dancers onto the floor and easy enough for the loungers to nod their heads to.
Let's Push Things Forward seesaws unsteadily on a punch-drunk ragga horn chorus and simple propulsive organ chords. A vocalist sings the chorus, "You say that everything sounds the same / then you go buy them / there's no excuses my friend / let's push things forward." Like the cross-cultural enviornment in which Skinner grew up in, the song reflects the clash of disparate genres. Lyrically - it's more bragging and self-promotion but not in the vein of what hip-hop fans may be used to. Skinner raps - "Spit jewels like Eastern riches / junkie fixes / around here we say birds not b*tches / as London Bridge burns down / Brixton's burning up."
The next song - Sharp Darts is the first time the album hits somewhat of a rut. Luckily, its only a minute and half. The beat is a more conventional hip-hop beat with the sound of a needle being pulled off vinyl being used as accentuation. Like the best albums however, the weakest tracks fix within the context of the album. Sharp Darts leads into one of the best songs on the album - Same Old Thing. A fierce cello string beat gives the song a determined menace as Skinner strips of the pretense and takes the music to "street level". A ragga-influenced vocalist laments the situation on the chorus while Skinner describes the dead-end cycle of everyday life through a rowdy drinking session and the inevitable end of stumbling home through the rain and fog. It sounds rather normal on paper - but its all in the delivery as Skinner describes the situation through red-eyed hopelessness and an unconscious focus on seemingly irrelevant details - "Two empty take aways / ashtrays - the remains of the day stoned / pick a bottle off the table / peel the label / tell a fable."
"Geezers Need Excitement" utilizes a rather archetypal Wu-Tang beat with an eerie off-kilter string sample. In a deadpan manner, Skinner relates, "Geezers need excitement / if their lives don't provide it / then they incite violence / common sense - simple common sense." However the song showcases Skinner's narrative skills at their best - reveling in the tales of drug dealing and club nights with an unfocused rush from topic to topic. It works however because it captures the adrenaline rush of stoned late nights in all its ups and lows. It's Too Late deals with a failed relationship with a Massive Attack-like beat circa "Blue Lines" - swelling orchestration on mellow waves. Skinner grieves the loss of a girlfriend who was always there for him through the worst of times - but his inability to see past the bottom of his beer glass and drug sales caused her to walk away. "Now nothing holds significance / and nothing holds relevance / because the only thing I can see is her elegance."
Too Much Brandy is as its title suggests - a lamentation on drug-filled nights. Once again Skinner provides the narration detailing the intake of shrooms, lager, junk-food and the almost requistie downward spiral. The beat eschews the string-influence of his earlier songs and adopts a blurping jerky bass beat and a light piano in the background. Don't Mug Yourself is another low point on the album with an annoying upbeat backdrop and even more irritating chorus. Who Got The Funk? is an emminently danceable instrumental track which wears its funk influences on its sleeve even featuring a wailing R&B sample.
The album ends on a dark note. That's not a bad thing. With Stay Positive, Skinner lays down a piano-laced beat soaked in misery and cast in dark shadows. Skinner takes a depressing but bare-bones approach to life at the rock bottom. "This is called irony / When you most need to get up, you got no energy / Time and time sh*t will happen / the dark sh*t's in rapping / but no one's listening / your mates are laughing / and your birds are f*cking / and then you start hating."
Publications have been singing praises of "Original Pirate Material" and the album is already up for the prestigious Mercury Music Award. The Streets may just be the "now thing" - a novelty record that will eventually find its way to the bottom of the stacks. However for 2002, Skinner has created an album with personality, culture, and substance. Capturing England in a snapshot of seemingly interminable fog haze, The Streets deserves to be heard even for the most adamant Anglophobes. This is the real England - right down to the hunkering industrial buildings, the seedy bars, the alleyways, the gray skies, and late-night clubs. There are some large noticeable flaws in the album mainly some rudimentary beats, but it still operates convincingly in drawing the listener into Skinner's world. So come in - sit down mate and drink up - yer in fer a good time.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
e-kleptic
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Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 16
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About Me:
I haven't posted for more than a month - but I'll be back. I promise.
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