A Grand Don't Come for Free is the second studio album by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner, under the music project the Streets.

[1] It is a rap opera and concept album that follows the story of its protagonist's relationship with a girl named Simone, alongside the mysterious loss of £1,000 from his home (the eponymous "grand").

In his book The Story of the Streets, Skinner explained his decision to create a story that ran through the album:"The reason I decided to write A Grand Don't Come for Free as episodes from a single unfolding narrative was because I'd got so into my songwriting manuals and books by Hollywood screen-writing gurus – not just Robert McKee but Syd Field and John Truby as well – and I wanted to try and put what I'd learnt from them into practice.

In Q, Garry Mulholland said that instead of thinking of the record as a concept album, it was more like "a spoken-word opera, or a short story with an exquisitely crafted pop soundtrack".

[18] Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone called A Grand Don't Come for Free "the best British hip-hop concept album ever" and stated that "it is both simpler – in sound and scope – than Pirate and more ambitious".

"But Skinner isn't interested in pinball wizards or ancient alien races ... [It] demands the same attention as a movie, and that's why some people will hate it while others will find it uniquely riveting.