The Streets - Everything is Borrowed

By Lady Oracle - The Limelight - 09/15/2008

Everything is Borrowed is the fourth album from Mike Skinner aka The Streets. I actually heard about The Streets last year through a guy I worked with. He gave me a copy of “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living”, The Street's third album released in 2006. I immediately became a fan of this UK rapper and producer. I was excited to get my hands on his new album. It is definitely different from the last one. “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” had a Hip Hop sound. This album has more of a pop sound, mixed with rock and old school jazzy sound, it's a lot of different elements which initially threw me off guard but suits his rap & singing style.

Once I got used to the sound I can honestly say I enjoyed his latest effort. I really like what he raps about. He talks about issues of love, spirituality, the earth & its environment. His song “The Way Of The Dodo” coins the issue of the global warming and points out in the hook “It not earth that's in trouble, it's the people that live on it.” 

Another song I like is “Everything is Borrowed” and it’s chorus of “I came to this world with nothing and I will leave with nothing but love...everything else is just borrowed.” I like that he can be deep and entertaining at that same time, which is something that I can relate to. It's definitely a good way to make the listener pay attention to your message.

Overall a good album, if this was a Limelight review it would get 3 out of 4 limes.

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