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Music Times - April 2006

Arresting Time

April 25th 2006 03:45

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Arrested Development

Everyone wants to forget the 90s. From MC Hammer to Britney Spears' first single and Madonna's kimono era, the 90s was memorable in a bad way. Well, so was the 80s, but thats popular now so whos to argue? Being a youngin' of sorts, I have but two guilty musical pleasures from the 90s - one being Frente! and the other being none other than Arrested Development. No, not the hilarious satirical show that FOX has recently dropped - I'm talking about politically-directed hip hop band that brought us such hits as "Everyday People."


Arrested Development is an American progressive hip hop group, founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the early 1990s.
Band definition from Wikipedia

The hip hop band's debut album, "3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..." was released in 1992 and was named after the time it took for the band to gain a record deal. It instantly gained critical acclaim through the singles "Everyday People," "Mr Wendal," and "Tennessee." Who can blame them?
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Speech
The hip hop collective had a wicked style that combined the corniest of 90s hip hop with the most stylistic of musical techniques, combining the amazing voices of all 5 artists, lead by "Speech." Listening to this album again makes me wonder where hip hop has gone wrong - Arrested Development had musical loops like songs do today, but they were used in a way that made them easy to listen to, unlike 21st century hip hop artists such as Kanye West, who overuses loops to the extent that I want to stab my ears at the end of the song.


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But what's most interesting about the band is its political agenda. Instead of creating meaningless songs simply to make it big in the charts, Arrested Development utilised their music for a purpose, layering it within an agenda to challenge its listeners to work towards a better society. From songs like "Give a Man a Fish," which encourages aiding the poor, to the last track "Washing Away," which raises many of the social issues prevalent in 90s US society, Arrested Development was not afraid to voice its opinions. While their influence on society isn't particularly visible, the mere fact that they dared to do it is honourable and simply isn't seen today without going to the extremes that bands like Anti-Flag have.

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Unfortunately, Arrested Development didn't last long. They released a second album, "Zingalamaduni," in 1994, but it sold poorly and, despite their uniqueness, they broke up shortly after in 1996. Obviously not feeling that their job is done, Arrested Development reunited in 2000, and have slowly been making a comeback, with their next album, "Naked Myths," due out later this year. Hopefully, Arrested Development have retained that musical style that I loved so much, yet, considering the state of hip hop today (with some exclusive exceptions), I have doubts.


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The source of Arrested Development's political agenda?


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3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Cibbuano

April 25th 2006 11:04


20/20 Filmsight
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Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
Techbreak
yeah, sweet... who doesn't like those classic tracks? How can you listen to 'Everyday People' during summertime BBQs and not feel all euphoric inside?

I picked this for the post of the day

Comment by Jimbo

April 25th 2006 11:14


Punk Rawk News
Wow, I made first "Post of the Day!" Thanks, Cibb! Guess I better keep my game up then!

Comment by Trina

April 26th 2006 13:03


Hiphop
Confessions of a Serial Dancer
Competitions
Clubbing
Woohoo! Awesome post - PROPS (you deserve post of the day). I didn't know Arrested Development was like that, I remember "Mr Wendall" and "Everyday People" still one of my all time favs... can't wait to see what they bring after so long!

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