The Streets - Cyberspace and Reds (2011)

Cyberspace and Reds is the release preview to the last record ever that will make Mike Skinner with the A.K.A The Streets, but the recording is actualy after the album had been already recorded, so tecnicaly this is the end before the end but set in time after. Lets hope that he doesn’t disappear; its understandable the idea of wanting to create some music that doesn’t comes into The Streets, you could say that this new technological twist that The Streets is making is also the last prophesy of the urban poet saying that the new urban landscape is behind technology, no longer in the streets.

The mixtape is called Cyberspace & Reds and let me tell you that this thing is hardcore, the beats that Skinner pulls off here are wicked and definitely reminding Original Pirate Material and everything that made him famous in the first place, also one thing that makes this mixtape a fantastic thing to listen is the constant and extended collaboration of different hip hopers that put amazing lines on display.

A lot of influence of the dub step sound and really upbeat rhythms, this time we see again a political Mike, something I personally missed on Everything is Borrowed. But if one thing I must confess I’m a fan, and a sucker for this guy, so he does no wrongs, just less goods, and he’s been so consistent in this last project that he even started using internet as an effective channel to establish communication with the consumer of his art, shame that in the end he’s saying goodbye when most closer to the public.

In terms of the mixtape, every single track was made in the eyes of the public, almost all posted on youtube when Mike was giving birth to the beats and the lyrics, and all of them are filled with theme songs about internet, rights, globalization and capitalism, blogging, robots, technology, even personal space and privacy relating to leaks of sex tapes, this mixtapes shows him in what I consider the ultimate lyric creating of Skinner since he gave up writing, just a fantastic display of his ability to create urban poetry.

Tracklist:

1. Came In Through The Door (Feat Kano)
2. 4 O'clock
3. Don't Hide Away (Feat Wiley, Rinse And Ice Kid)
4. Too Numb (Feat Roxxxan)
5. Backseat Barz (Feat Loudmouth)
6. Tidy Nice And Neat (Feat Ghost Poet)
7. The Morning After The Day Off On One (Feat Trim)
8. Cinema Barz (Feat Jammer)
9. Breakbat Barz (Scru Fizzer)
10. Something To Hide
11. Robots Are Taking Over (Feat Envy And Elro)
12. Cross That Line (Feat Fumin)
13. Minding My Own (Feat Wretch32)

Rate: 8.4/10

Google That Shit!