The Streets

In 2002, when the Streets (aka Mike Skinner) burst onto the scene with his debut, Original Pirate Material, he was lauded for his offbeat flow and the careless attitude he dropped over British two-step garage beats. Skinner must've anticipated the shelf life of garage, however, because two years later, he followed that album up with A Grand Doesn't Come for Free, a darker thematic project with more traditional hip-hop beats and plenty of third-person tales that weren't as lighthearted as his previous efforts. On his latest outing, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, the British MC gets autobiographical as he weighs in on life as a celebrity ("Prangin' Out"), gives a snapshot of a day in the music industry ("The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living") and raps about how easy it is to hook up with chicks now that he's gained notoriety ("When You Wasn't Famous"). Even though he's praised for his lyrical prowess and slick production, his left-of-center rhyme style and tone-deaf crooning may turn off most hip-hop fans. Maybe it's an English thing.