‘Original Pirate Material’ was 15 years in the making. From the moment the rap obsessed kid from the Midlands first heard copies of his older brother’s Run DMC and Beastie Boys records right up until the moment he upped and relocated to the UK Garage capital of London. White kid from Birmingham makes good. White kid from Birmingham makes unshakeably well-realized and clued up hip-hop/garage hybrid. White kid from Birmingham introduces the ordinary and unremarkable narratives of the British underclass to rap. It’s a first. It’s a result and it’s a significant intervention in the direction of British music. For the first time since Blur’s ‘Park Life’ and Pulp’s ‘A Different Class’ a prodigious British youth sidesteps the often anachronistic and spurious Americanisms of the industry to help define a core Britishness. It was indeed the sound of the streets, the sound of a night spent down the pub followed by an interminable wait outside the kebab shop before heading back for TV and a spliff. New album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ could be construed to be the same old drill – but it’s not. ‘Original Pirate Material’ unearthed and defined a sub-culture, providing a fistful of repeatable quotes by way of introduction, but it didn’t alter the fact it was a sub-culture and somehow detached from the rest of Britain. This time, however, Skinner reinstates his rankled gang of wits within a framework of universal intent, creating characters and a story as ancient and familiar as Oedipus or Hamlet. In fact it’s a tale of such quiet emotional magnitude that it’s a Tenants Super short of a Greek Tragedy. Soundtrack for a generation? No. A soundtrack for every generation. Like I said, it’s universal. The ruminating existentialism and self-exploration that characterized the works of Camus, Shakespeare, Homer and Dostoyesvky characterizes Skinner’s world. It’s a story of love, betrayal, discovery and self-discovery and ends with a realization as pertinent to Hamlet as it is to Skinner’s protagonist Mike: ‘Everyone’s A C**** in this life.’ You can’t rely on anyone but yourself. Not even your best mate or your bird.
‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ is 50 minutes of staggering and unpretentious ability and arguably the most significant event in English music and literary history since ‘Quadrophenia’ and Allan Sillitoe’s ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’. Absolute poetry. Life is a series of empty cans. Happiness is temporary at best. Hook up your ears to penultimate track ‘Dry Your Eyes’ and share the tears.