The Streets

“The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living”

(Vice/679)

4 Stars



Mike Skinner, the cheeky British rapper/producer behind The Streets, might well be a genius. Although many find him more ridiculous or affected than brilliant, it’s hard to deny the verbal dexterity that he brings to his major label releases—and his new release, “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living,” is certainly no exception.

Characterized, as ever, by moments of razor-sharp wit amidst a sea of mock-cockney diatribes and a blend of beats and influences that is sometimes too much to take, the new album does find Skinner in a new place, lyrically-speaking: the establishment.

Having reached a new level of success after the release of his second album, the conceptual “A Grand Don’t Come for Free,” Skinner is forced to abandon cheeky irreverence (sort of), and adopt the much more serious issues of fame and fortune.

Complaints about the lifestyle of the rich and famous is a trail well-trodden in the music industry, and Skinner’s descent down the same path is part bizarre and part amusing—I can’t help shake the feeling that his tongue remains resolutely in cheek with lines like “We’ve got two 50 grand in the budget to go/ Subtract five for club promo/ Lose five for a good video and fifteen for a dud video, fuck that.”

The album is puzzling and abrasive at times, as, for example, when Skinner raps about “sarging” “lambs” on “War of the Sexes.” Still, even amidst such low-points, the wit we love shines through in lines like “You’re not playing at hard to get/ You’re playing at not getting a hard-on yet.”

Production on all tracks is more polished than ever, finding Skinner continuing his traditional mix of the quirky and the melodious. Unmemorable tracks like the foot-dragging “Memento Mori” are offset with the likes of “When You Wasn’t Famous,” which rolls cleverly over a well-executed, lively marching beat.

Mixed in with the voice-over jokes and mysterious, yet certainly lewd, British slang, the slower, sometimes sappy songs are at once a bit bland and a welcome respite. Representing Skinner at his most accessible, songs like “All Goes Out the Window” and “Never Went to Church” are either offerings to the less adventurous of his listeners, or minor failures.

Ever an intriguing combination of brazen bollocks jokes and swings at cultural insight, it can be hard to tell where Skinner is aiming his punches at times. Then again, albums with songs dedicated to themes as disparate as trashed hotel rooms and late fathers aren’t all that strange in the rap world. And besides, it’s hard not to like the strange, ironic earnestness that flows from each of the Streets albums.

One gets the sense that, whether serious or joking, jarring or soothing, Skinner is always half-hiding a wry grin, and the playfulness that belies it is infectious enough to make “Living” well worth suffering through its worst moments.

—Reviewer Henry M. Cowles can be reached at hmcowles@fas.harvard.edu.