The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

The Streets | Everything is Borrowed

Vice (2008)
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 22, 2008
3.5 3.5 Stars
streetsINSIDE.jpg
I’m suspicious of cool kids. When I mention The Streets around aggressively opinionated hipsters, most dismiss Mike Skinner as expired cockney trash. But when I bump his joints for open-minded two-step virgins, they sop it up like pancakes. Those who deserted after Skinner stopped building bangers for marathon barbiturate benders might find his fresh posi-grime rhymes on cuts like “The Escapist” too distant from Original Pirate Material. Lucky for me, I’ve matured with Skinner. Aside from looming debt, I, like Mike, am doing fine for once — and it’s fabulous to see him off the ledge as well. Even though his heavy drug phase seems to be largely over, Borrowed is his Sgt. Pepper — not because he’s spelunking far-flung experimental trenches, but because he finally understands that life is larger than his ego (self-depreciating as it was). Sure, he’s softened since the money hit, but he still pens such gloriously cheesy nuggets as “I want to go to Heaven for the weather, but Hell seems like fun to me.” Our entire Britpop vernacular was culled from such gems; it’s just that some folks are too sweet on history and themselves to admit that Skinner is almost as enlightened as John, Paul, Sting, and Bernie. That’s fine with him, though, because, in his words: “I came to this world with nothing, and I’ll leave with nothing but love.” 
Related: Brit-hop, The ProJo opposes plastic bag use — but it uses plastic bags, Hits and missus, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Mike Skinner, The Streets, The Streets
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

ARTICLES BY CHRIS FARAONE
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   HACKING PACT  |  December 02, 2009
    On an unheralded fall weekend right before Thanksgiving, a roomful of amateur hackers and Web rock stars gathered in East Cambridge for a historic convention that could dramatically reshape the way we get our music.
  •   MAIN MAN OF MATTAPAN  |  December 01, 2009
    Ask any group of teens on Blue Hill Ave how many of them rap and you'll get more affirmatives than you would surveying kids at Mass and Boylston for slap-bass skills. Allston might be a crab bucket of indie-rockers, and one in three JP residents is an abstract painter, but MCs in Boston's black communities have more competition than nail salons in Dudley Square.
  •   FASHAWN | BOY MEETS WORLD  |  December 02, 2009
    Since Boy Meets World dropped into my radar a month ago, I’ve discovered how much magic stretches clean across the tracklist, and I was planning to include it on my year-end list. Yet more immediate praise is due.
  •   IBEW PRESSURES STOP & SHOP  |  November 24, 2009
    Folks driving past suburban Stop & Shop locations this week might wonder why laborers are suddenly concerned about food safety.
  •   TALE OF THE TAPES  |  November 25, 2009
    Soon after music-minded UMass-Boston management professor Pacey Foster signed on to write a Boston chapter for the most comprehensive hip-hop tome ever compiled, his mission brought him to rural Maine, where it has long been speculated that the Hub rhyme scene's Holy Grail is safely stored.

 See all articles by: CHRIS FARAONE

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group