the streets - original pirate material (+ new album)

Started by phil marlowe, April 22, 2003, 02:50:14 PM

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Pubrick

Quote from: Gamblour le flambeur on May 05, 2006, 09:34:27 AM
It's strange that it's really a concept album, which is mostly reserved for prog rock bands to claim
it's weird that you would think that, some of the best concept albums i can think of are hip hop albums..





anyway the new album sucks. just a heads up to save you checking it out in 3 years.
under the paving stones.

Gamblour.

Well in my experience, it's been prog bands, but that experience is limited I guess.

And here's thanks three years in advance.
WWPTAD?

MacGuffin

Taking a detour into the heart of things
British rapper the Streets hits the U.S. on tour for his latest album. This time, it's personal.
Source: Los Angeles Times

Mike Skinner, aka the Streets, has his sights set on accomplishing one thing in America, and it's not chart domination.

"People can say what they want, but I'm going to run the New York Marathon — it's not going to be that hard for me — I'm pretty fit, actually, and I'm training hard," he declares in a slight Brummie accent immediately familiar to fans of the rapper.
 
The lanky 27-year-old, better known for meshing smooth British garage beats with insightful slang-ridden rhymes than for doing anything remotely athletic, maintains that running 26 miles "can't be that hard" — even if his competitive streak usually runs only so far as drinking copious amounts of lager with his local pub quiz team.

Nothing seems to be difficult these days for the Birmingham, England, native. His latest release, "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living," debuted at No. 1 in Britain last month, ending speculation the rapper might be running out of steam.

Skinner, speaking via cellphone backstage before a festival tour stop in Nuremberg, Germany, says he is thrilled with the reaction to his third album.

"It's a big relief," he says, "because however you frame it, if you don't succeed as much as you did the time before, it's seen by the industry as, you know, on your way out."

Indeed, the pressure for the charismatic beatmaker to produce hits — especially at home — is almost tangible.

His last disc, "A Grand Don't Come for Free," also topped the British pop charts when it came out in 2004. His debut offering, "Original Pirate Material," has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide since its release in 2002, and was lauded by critics.

But for all Skinner's success in Britain, he has yet to crack the mainstream U.S. market — especially hip-hop radio — because of his accent and nontraditional production style, which has more in common with dance music than hip-hop.

"It's a cultural thing," Skinner says of his failure to reach mainstream American hip-hop fans. "It's natural that the Streets is going to be more of an exotic thing in America, and therefore more liked by a different kind of person than it is in England."

As it stands, Streets fans in the U.S. are more likely adventurous college radio listeners than 16-year-old hard-core hip-hop heads.

Not that Skinner is complaining — he still has legions of boosters in the U.S., and is beginning a 12-city North American tour. His Saturday show at the Fonda Theatre is sold out.

The 11-song album, perhaps his most confessional to date, showcases a grown-up Skinner — replete with grown-up problems.

On his debut, Skinner won over fans by rapping about the innocent minutiae of everyday life: observing characters at his local pub, being broke while chasing girls or zoning out while playing video games.

But things have changed now that Skinner has become a star.

"The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" begins with "Pranging Out," a dark, paranoid song about a multiple-day cocaine bender rapped over a stark, menacing and impossibly catchy beat ("I do a line and then panic/The iron has been on in my house for four ... weeks," he relates).

Other themes addressed on the album include smoking crack ("I don't recommend it," he says), the perils of recoupable advances in the music industry, small-time cons, fame, his gambling addiction ("I did have a problem," Skinner confesses) and the loss of his father.

Skinner's candor on his new single, "Never Went to Church," about his father's death is remarkably personal.

"I worked really hard to make it one of the best songs on the album," he says. "My father would be proud of how hard I worked on it."

Skinner's late father might not be so proud of some of the more risqué revelations on the record, especially tales from "Pranging Out," like when he reveals how his manager actually smacked him.

"I deserved it, to be honest," Skinner says of the incident. "I threw his wallet out the window. He beat me [at Foosball], basically, and I don't like being beaten. I was drunk at the time. To be honest, when I'm drunk, I'm always out of order."

Indeed, "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" begins and ends with cautionary tales of drug- and alcohol-fueled excess. Not that Skinner is a lazy lager lout — he's too busy making tracks on his own and producing other artists for his record label, the Beats, to let his admitted casual drug use and drinking get in the way of his work ethic.

"It took me 10 years to get to the point where I can make a living doing this," he says.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

MTV and The Streets make longest music video to displace 'Thriller'

British rapper Mike Skinner, better known as garage band The Streets, has created the longest-ever music video, set to displace Michael Jackson's "Thriller", the global music broadcaster MTV said.

Skinner and the television channel teamed up to make the 20-minute video to celebrate MTV's 25th anniversary.

MTV gave five of its viewers each a video camera and asked them to film whatever they wished, resulting in a cheerleading spoof, a catalogue of clumsiness, and one video that attempts to follow the trail of folklore beast Bigfoot.

Skinner has used the videos to inspire a new track, due to air for the first time on August 1, aimed at surpassing the legendary 14-minute "Thriller" launched in 1983.

Skinner said he was "blown away by the creativity ... of the young people involved." The Streets' previous hits include "Fit but You Know It" and "Dry Your Eyes" from the 2004 album "A Grand Don't Come for Free".

Profits from the single will be directed to the Staying Alive Foundation, an HIV and AIDS charity for young people.

An MTV spokesman said: "Although it's our 25th birthday, it's important to remember that we wouldn't have lasted 25 minutes without great, creative music videos."

The broadcaster, which operates in 169 countries around the world, has had a huge influence on advertising, fashion and the careers of tomorrow's would-be pop legends.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

cron

that video's gonna be as long as his latest album. it can't be any good.
context, context, context.

Neil

Excuse me to bring up a topic that hasn't been discussed in a while, but i was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share any the streets Cd's...I've been looking on soulseek for about a week, and i can't really come up with any results...pm me, or something, that would be awesome, thanks.

Edit: I'm downloading original pirate material from stefen...so if anyone has help on the others...that would be great...
it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

Stefen

Quote from: Neil on January 22, 2007, 12:04:34 AM
Excuse me to bring up a topic that hasn't been discussed in a while, but i was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share any the streets Cd's...I've been looking on soulseek for about a week, and i can't really come up with any results...pm me, or something, that would be awesome, thanks.

I have Original Pirate Material. The only good one imo. I can upload if you'd like.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Pubrick

Quote from: Neil on January 22, 2007, 12:04:34 AM
I've been looking on soulseek for about a week, and i can't really come up with any results
search for "streets grand come for free" without the quotation marks, and then arrange by d/l speed. i just got more than 40 full albums online and around 19 ready to steal with the highest d/l speed being 163 k/s for username "Fakepilot.com", add him and rob him silly, also good audio quality sources available right now are "whoisryder" or "deodonis".
under the paving stones.

cinemanarchist

Everything Is Borrowed is the upcoming fourth album from The Streets. Slated for release in either August or September 2008, Skinner describes the album as a "peaceful coming to terms album" and as containing "peaceful positive vibes" which stand in stark contrast to the previous album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, which Skinner has described as a "guilt-ridden indulgence".

1. "Everything Is Borrowed"
2. "Heaven For the Weather"
3. "I Love You More (Than You Like Me)"
4. "Just Thought of Something"
5. "On the Flip of a Coin"
6. "The Sherry End"
7. "Alleged Legends"
8. "What are Chances of That Like?"
9. "When That Day Will Be"
10. "Further Away"
11. "Strongest Person I Know"
12. "The Escapist"

The video for "The Escapist" debuts tomorrow night and it depicts Mike's ambulatory adventure through Europe.

VIDEO -   EPIC!!
My assholeness knows no bounds.