Album: Mike Street - The Man And The Dream

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Heavy beats, heavy flow, heavy lyrics…so much is heavy with this album that maybe Mike Street should have perhaps called himself Heavy Mike…had he actually been physically heavy. But for what Mike Street is, which is both in some cases original and in some not, it is worth putting your ear to his album The Man and The Dream. Although this young aspiring artist doesn’t cite The Game as one of his influences, he sounds remarkably like him without the level of rasp in his voice and slightly less enthusiastic rhymes.

The production and most of the lyrics throughout the entire album are just screaming “GIVE ME RADIO PLAY!” Such a track is Feels Good which, apart from having the extremely played out club sound, will definitely catch the ear and attention of those who lust it, and if you are such a person, this is definitely a treat for you. One particular attention-catching track which is not only well-produced but also refreshingly easy to listen to is Superstar. On this cut, Street emphasises his destiny to be a superstar and lets you know he ain’t broke, but the money he does have doesn‘t get to him – that you can “take away the cars and fame/But you can’t take away my name.” Not everyday do you come across a track which focuses on superstardom without heavy flaunting. Victory Music is another track which truly displays Street’s determination as an MC, with a relatively faster-paced beat compared to the rest on the album, a must-excel track that any MC must conquer, which Street surely does…not to mention the electric guitar solo is pretty damn cool.

The problem with this album is, however, and this cannot be stressed enough, is that Mike Street sounds too much like the last rapper you heard on Hip Hop radio. True, he does rhyme as well as produce his own beats (which not many rappers do), but it’s tracks like Red Carpet which you can’t help but skip as if you’ve heard it 1000 times before. In addition, something he may not be able to help, but he sounds EXTREMELY like The Game…and this could be the problem that Tha Realest had with sounding like 2Pac. So Street may want to consider switching up his flow and altering his voice some, just so that he doesn’t get misconstrued as a biter.

Mike Street has the makings of a commercial artist, so while this means money and mainstream fame can come his way because he has a radio-friendly appealing sound, it also makes him just like any other Hip Hop artist out there, only with more STREET and less flaunt, which certainly garners him my respect. In many ways, he does stand out as an original artist, but in too many more ways does he seem like a repeat…you can’t say you haven’t heard anything like this before. Still, it is worth placing him a few places above your lower-ranked major-label-signed rappers in the meantime.

Available through Emstate Records