The Streets

The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living

[4/5] Thanks to sublime storytelling and unironic sentimentality, the Streets’ sophomore album, A Grand Don’t Come For Free, was a star-making record for idiosyncratic British MC Mike Skinner, and this after-party, a ridiculously candid study of decadence and regret, is a jazz, too. “This time I’m drying my eyes and a fucking nosebleed,” Skinner dishes on “Pranging Out,” one of several songs on The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living that features more chalk talk than a teacher’s college. But where Grand was anchored by downbeat ballads that framed its “character’s” failings and frustrations, Living mostly sidesteps the slow stuff. Reckless and immediate, “When You Wasn’t Famous” revels in tabloid-style irresponsibility, and makes for terrific fun, even if it’s little more than a calypso-tinged take on Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl.” Skinner’s delivery is appealing as ever–no other MC could get away with his shameless confessionals about poking pop starlets and snorting “tour support”–and his beats are appropriately posh. Even if they’re not quite Grand.
(VICE) Tristan Staddon