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Time - Man of the Year
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1993-04-08
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REVIEWS, Page 64MUSICRapping Righteously
By GIL GRIFFIN
PERFORMER: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
ALBUM: 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of . . .
LABEL: EMI/Chrysalis
THE BOTTOM LINE: A new Southern rap group urges a
revolution of consciousness stressing the positive side.
Rappers expressing their passion for justice and black
empowerment are hardly uncommon. Rhyming over experi mental
jazz, funk, blues and reggae samples is no longer unorthodox.
But the Atlanta-based group Arrested Development does both in
a way that strikes a novel note. For one thing, consider its
makeup. There are four men and two women (itself unusual, since
rap groups nearly always divide strictly along gender lines):
a lead rapper-singer named Speech, a deejay, another singer, a
traditional African dancer and -- get this -- a 60-year-old
spiritual adviser, who doesn't appear onstage with the group but
draws on the lore of precolonial African societies to instruct
them on maintaining their familial structure.
Even more unusual is the group's tone. In contrast to the
rage, misogyny and combativeness of many rappers, Arrested
Development is generally positive and hopeful, though often
frustrated (the name reflects the stagnation the performers see
stunting African-Americans' progress). In their debut album, 3
Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of , they embrace values
that by current standards seem downright radical, exhorting
blacks to achieve reform by loving and respecting one another,
being more responsible as parents and developing a greater
reverence for nature and for God.
Arrested Development has an angry, urgent side too, as in
the funky, up-tempo cut Fishin' 4 Religion, an attack on black
religious leaders. Baptist churches, Speech complains, "don't
do a damn thing to try to nurture,/ Brothers and sisters in the
revolution./ Baptist teachers dying is the only solution./
Passiveness causes others to pass us by." The group goes further
on Give a Man a Fish, a tune whose chorus rings with down-home
gospel fervor. "Brothers wit their A.K.s and their 9-mms,"
Speech raps, "Need to learn how to correctly shoot them./ Save
those rounds for a revolution./ Poor whites and blacks,
bumrushing the system." Whether literally calling for violence
or using a metaphor to express a desire for social upheaval,
Speech and Arrested Develop ment clearly believe their
revolution is righteous.
But perhaps more characteristic is the fervor in the
group's hit single, Tennessee. Here, Speech mourns the loss of
two relatives and describes his pilgrimage to his ancestral home
in Ripley, Tenn. He revels in his family history and the beauty
of the rural surroundings: "[I] walk the roads my forefathers
walked,/ Climb the trees my forefathers hung from./ Ask those
trees for all their wisdom,/ . . . He guided me to Tennessee .
. . home."
The talented Speech is no metaphysician, nor a messiah.
But the ideas he and Arrested Development present, borne on
soulful rhythms and profanity-free lyrics, are refreshing and
intriguing.