Premature Evaluation: The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
Mike Skinner took us for a loop with the moving, mature video for "Everything Is Borrowed," the eponymous and introspective ("I came to this world with nothing / And I'll leave with nothing but love") opener from his fourth album. After all, his last record was all about being loaded. Conversely, Everything Is Borrowed follows the path set with its title track and those accompanying eviction images, a grown man dealing with the everyday. Skinner's always rapped about the banal, and given it his own spin and poetic framing, but this is less about chasing chicks with your blokes than it is celebrating the fact that those blokes exist, making note of why you love/need them/have their backs. It's full-on posi-core ("peaceful, positive vibes," he's said). The cash, fast cars, and cocaine-fueled shenanigans of The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living are exchanged for family, mortality, suicide, love, the environment, the intricacies of other folks, etc. So, is deep Skinner -- "little, fleeting, momentary me" -- any fun?
He is. The guy's not a bore just because he grew up. (We all gotta grow up sometime, Kanye.) In upbeat, clapping sing-a-long "Heaven For The Weather" he lets us know he's into "heaven for the weather / and hell for the company." He knows you need a bit of both, makes sure he has enough of the devil tucked away in his goodwill and pep rallying. Basically, it's philosophy in the mold of the Streets past, so it remains self-deprecating and humorous ("I learned a lot about myself drawing all morning / It was absolutely shit, I'm awful at drawing" in "I Love You More (Than You Like Me)"), not entirely dogmatic ("It's not Earth that's in trouble/ It's the people that live on it" in "The Way Of The Dodo") even when it seems like it could go that way. He raps about religion and people following "this red book" too closely in "Alleged Legends" before intimating that his own religion is self-directed moderation, doing what you think is right. With the occasional help of the old man who reminds you about what's important, the idea of survival and lineage and talks you out of killing yourself (see "On The Edge Of A Cliff.") Everything is very much about a flexible approach to existence, a consistent duality. In the slightly cheesy, but pretty sweet "The Strongest Person I Know" he says, "You gently take things slowly, that's the delicate way you've shown me, you're the strongest person I know." Yeah, duh kinda. But, yeah, true kinda.
The beats? They're catchy. They're polished. The choruses are sometimes lame (see "The Sherry End," for instance), but mostly Skinner manages to mix the ragtag with the polished. The two best tracks are likely the aforementioned "Everything Is Borrowed" (the opener) and the gospel-tinged "The Escapist" (the closer). But the album's streaming across MySpace, so you feel free to weigh in, too. To our ears, it tops The Hardest Way. A Grand Don't Come For Free has a leg-up at this point, but we're only beginning to dig into this one, so who knows. That said, it's hard comparing the Skinner of today with the Skinner of yesterday (from Original Pirate Material and onward). That's a good thing. He's definitely not resting on past laurels: Seems he's gotten beyond them, is finding himself with a whole new set of possibilities.
Everything Is Borrowed is out 10/7 via .
Posted at 6:03 PM in Premature Evaluation
Tags: The Streets
Nice review, and it makes me really want to listen to the album. Which is good, considering that I HATED his last album with a passion.
Score = 0
This album is great, much better than The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (although Pranging Out was awesome). Definitely looking forward to digging into it a bit more.
Score = 2
i'm loving this album. this might be his best yet. It's exponentially better then The Hardest Way.
Score = 0
Agree this is better than Hardest Way, but that's not too hard.
Need to listen to it more, but I dunno. It's definitely a curveball.
Score = 3
Unfortunately both of the post-Original Pirate Material albums, and especially The Hardest Way...., have pretty much destroyed all of the good will I had for Mike. I feel like Americans have an enhanced level of tolerance for the guy, cuz, he's like, foreign to you. But being English is no excuse for horrible rhymes and gimmicky songs, especially when he proved with the debut that he's got ability (although, maybe only an album's worth).
Throwaway comments like "In the slightly cheesy, but pretty sweet..." and "The choruses are sometimes lame" are ringing alarm bells for me, is all. I can't handle another cringefest. So I'm going to be THAT guy and not even give this a chance. Twice bitten, thrice shy, y'know.
Score = -3
so the "throwaway comments" are the ones that got ya? odd.
Score = 0
Yep. Cheesiness, sweetness and lameness obviously aren't a big deal to the reviewer (and fair enough), but I can't stand those qualities in Mike. Hence, alarm bells.
Score = -2
"A Grand Don't Come For Free" is the best hip-hop album of the decade, squid brain.
Score = 3
"Everything is Borrowed" is so bad it makes "The Hardest Way..." seem like a classic by comparison. It seems that a modicum of fame destroyed Mike Skinner.
Score = -7
All should just listen to Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury instead.
Score = -7
I've listened through it once all the way and my first impression is that it's pretty good. Some of the lyrics make you think and beg you to listen again however the beats are lacking...defiantly didn't push this one forward in that regard (which is what got me listening to the Streets in the first place)
Score = 1
i'm actually really digging the beats on this one. they're definitely different and take a little bit to get into, but he's really got some awesome stuff on here, particularly on "the way of the dodo" and the title track.
Score = 1
VERY disappointed after two listens. I think closing track "The Escapist" is awesome and hgad been listening to that for 2 weeks before I got the rest of the album. It is by far the best song IMO. I don't like Skinner's new cheesy, positive, almost adult-comtemporary vibe. You're right about some of the chorus' being lame. In fact, almost all of them are. I found only 4 or 5 songs on this album even listenable, and only 1 great and 2 or 3 ok tracks. Please bring back the Mike Skinner from A Grand Don't Come For Free, one of my favorite albums and from selected tracks of Hardest Way to Make An Easy LIiing, which seems so much better now after hearing this latest disaster. I hope it grows on me.
Score = -1
after the first listen i thought it was horrible
but now i realise that ive been listening to it constantly for the last few days
really really good
Score = 1