The Streets: Britain's answer to Eminem?

I was probably one of the few people in my part of the world who heard Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" back in the day and got a bit chafed. OK, I get it; money doesn't buy happiness. But just for a little while I'd like to feel the sadness that comes with being a stinkin' millionaire.To be fair, it wasn't all Biggie's fault - noted faux rappers Mase and Puff Daddy (or what is he calling himself these days? P-Diddy? Diddy? Bo Diddley?) hi-jacked the first two verses of the song and turned what was supposed to be a critical examination of the price of fame into a champagne celebration worthy of a Pacman Jones rain-making appearance.Fortunately Mike Skinner, the prickly, late 20-something Brit "rapper" who records under the moniker The Streets, limits the contributions of guest vocalists to choruses and background vocals on his third CD, a fame-examining excursion called, "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living." But he does take most of the album's 11 tracks to say what Biggie and countless others have pounded over the heads of their fans in fewer songs, that it's hard out there for a pop star pimp.Considering Skinner made his name writing and performing songs about everyman concerns, it's no wonder some of his followers, upon first hearing "Easy Living," weren't really feeling his new pain.The latest Streets album dropped a year ago this month to the first mixed critical reviews of Skinner's career. A product of Birmingham, England, Skinner is a white kid with wise-ass tendencies, and an artist who favors spitting his lyrics over beats most closely associated with black people.If it sounds a bit like he could be the British answer to American rapper Eminem, that's a comparison that has been made more than once in the past. Especially on "Easy Living," there is some merit to it.Like Eminem, Skinner uses the bulk of his minimalist, electronic-based songs as opportunities to spout lyrics that are sometimes spot-on ("One of the reasons girls flirt is to work out their worth, whereas men just hanker for the panky to happen," in "War Of The Sexes") and other times juvenile ("And remember not to get hammered either, cause people who get hammered don't get to nail," also in "War Of the Sexes"). And like Eminem, who will drop a sentimental song or two per album, usually about his young daughter, "Easy Living" has a somewhat sappy song called "Never Went To Church," about Skinner's late father. Surprisingly it contains the CD's best lyric. Skinner spins the bulk of the song lamenting that he has nothing on earth that reminds him of his dad, before he realizes, "you left me behind to remind me of you."A few paragraphs back I put quote marks around the word rapper in reference to Skinner, because he doesn't rap as much as he talks over his lyrics. That's not a criticism; the technique worked quite effectively five years ago on the singles "Has It Come To This?" and "Let's Push Things Forward" from his debut Streets album "Original Pirate Material."But back then, Skinner's music was a mix of garage/techno that was all the rage in the late-'90s, and two-tone ska reminiscent of another British act, The Specials. And his lyrics - to quote "Has It Come To This?" - were about sex, drugs and (being) on the dole.On "Easy Living" his beats are more pedestrian, and his subject matter, as the song "When You Was Famous" illustrates, isn't as easy to relate to anymore. It's about him and the various starlets with whom he's sleeping.