The Streets: The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (2LP) [LOCKED ON / 679]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set spreads the album across four sides of 180g vinyl. Mike Skinner wrote and produced every track, turning his own sudden fame into the subject of the record.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl

About the album

Two hit albums in, Mike Skinner had a problem most rappers dream about: everybody knew who he was. So he wrote about that. The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is a record about celebrity, success and the odd company that comes with them, told in the same Birmingham-to-London voice that made Original Pirate Material such a jolt.

"When You Wasn't Famous" is a sly, catchy tale of a fling that turns into a headache, "War of the Sexes" is a wry field guide to dating, and "Never Went to Church" is a tender, plain-spoken song for his late father, one of the most moving things he ever wrote. Skinner's protégés the Mitchell Brothers and Ted Mayhem drop in, and "Hotel Expressionism" and "Two Nations" show off his comic timing at full stretch.

The Village Voice found it fun to play in the background and praised how far his musical ideas had come. The closer, "Fake Streets Hats," recalls Skinner protesting at a Dutch festival about hats he took for fakes that turned out to be his own label's promo merch. We've had similar moments with our own tote bags.

Also at Kops: more The Streets on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Locked On / 679 (cat# 2564632301), a reissue of the 2006 album.