The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free

Maybe it's the accent -- that thick swarm of a Cockney accent. There can simply be no other reason why the Streets haven't duplicated here the massive success they've enjoyed in their native England. The Streets is essentially one man, Mike Skinner, and from his fevered, fearless imagination he has concocted this striking sophomore album. Not since Prince Paul's epic "A Prince Among Thieves" has a hip-hop artist created such a challenging, cohesive album joined by a single narrative thread. It's a dark, penetrating album, but with a cracked sense of humor about a young man -- coincidentally, named Mike -- riddled with confusion and self-doubt. His troubles begin early with "It Was Supposed to Be So Easy," in which everything that can go wrong for Mike does, including losing 1,000 pounds in cash. In "Could Well Be In," Mike meets Simone, and Skinner well captures that heady moment of first attraction. Of course, Mike and Simone's relationship will go awry, and Mike also will battle a gambling addiction in "Not Addicted," X-fueled paranoia in "Blinded by the Lights," and the bitter recognition of a wasted life in "Empty Cans." Skinner's production encompasses everything from the skeletal beats of "Such a Tw*t" to "Fit But You Know It," which sounds like rockabilly Queens of the Stone Age. This is a smashingly fresh album, one of the year's best. If Skinner was anointed a genius for his 2002 debut, "Original Pirate Material," with this concept album about a layabout's life he comes as close as anyone in recent memory to living up to that overused title.