There's a meme that says that suburbanites, specifically white suburbanites, specifically upper class, vapid, pop-head, white suburbanites, cannot like quality hip-hop. If they come to like any instance of hip-hop, it is a priori crap. Ironically, this attitude is most often expressed by white, affluent, indie rock snobs.

Apparently there is an exception made for the Streets, as the bulk of Mike Skinner's fans are British vapid, pop-head, white suburbanites, which are the very best kind. Somehow, "lad culture" has become the pinnacle of what we're all supposed to aspire to. I don't get it. But that aside, can people not hear the lack of skill on these records? A Grand Don't Come For Free is an improvement on Original Pirate Material, but it would just about have to be. The first Streets record featured such hollow-sounding production that, at times, I wondered if it was recorded live to two-track. Skinner's ability to rap is non-existent, and not in an amusing, Biz Markie-ish kind of way. When he breaks out of rap cadence and into spoken word, things get a little better, but a gimmick can't last the whole album.

Look, I don't follow hip-hop very closely these days, but even I know there's much better stuff than this out there, and it's not especially hidden. So when will the American indie community's collective NME genflect end?