3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... - Arrested Development

In 1992 came the debut album for Arrested Development, an innovative alternative Hip Hop crew out of Atlanta, Georgia and one that would influence the likes of Goodie Mob and OutKast in their early days as they took on the principals of the Afrocentric Jazz Rap acts of the East Coast (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers etc.) and made it fit in with their southern ways to come up with what you get in “3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days” ...
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1. “Man’s Final Frontier” (Intro)

2. “Mama’s Always On Stage”

They get the album going properly with an energetic jam, that really doesn’t sound anything like the sorts of things that were coming out of this state once Goodie Mob and OutKast had their say, as they jump on top of some lively Breakbeats and so seem to take it to the 1989-1990 years (and so probably sounded quite outdated at the time) but listening ... more

In 1992 came the debut album for Arrested Development, an innovative alternative Hip Hop crew out of Atlanta, Georgia and one that would influence the likes of Goodie Mob and OutKast in their early days as they took on the principals of the Afrocentric Jazz Rap acts of the East Coast (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers etc.) and made it fit in with their southern ways to come up with what you get in “3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days” (how long it took them to get a record deal).

1. “Man’s Final Frontier” (Intro)

2. “Mama’s Always On Stage”

They get the album going properly with an energetic jam, that really doesn’t sound anything like the sorts of things that were coming out of this state once Goodie Mob and OutKast had their say, as they jump on top of some lively Breakbeats and so seem to take it to the 1989-1990 years (and so probably sounded quite outdated at the time) but listening at this time it sounds quite fresh and gets it going nicely.

**Four Stars**

3. “People Everyday”

This was a massively-popular track from the act and finds them performing a cover to a Sly & The Family Stone joint (originally a Psychedelic Soul offering) and take things to a new high as they bring a little Caribbean Dancehall influence to the thing and bring up to modern times as a result as they perform a track to speak on why exactly they do what they do and why it has led to them being seen as outsiders. However this original, is noting compared to the remixed version.

**Four Stars**

4. “Blues Happy” (Lude)

5. “Mr. Wendal”

This was a very popular single from the act and one that seems to really stand out as a result as they come through doing their alternative thing and ensure that they really do well whilst performing in this style and ensuring that this comes through in every aspect of what they do as they do one that revolves around a homeless man and how people should see past their initial thought based upon appearance and situation, but it wasn’t really for me.

**Three Stars**

6. “Children Play With Earth” (Lude)

7. “Raining Revolution”

After taking the time to reconnect children with the earth, you see that here the group move things on by dropping another alternative joint and here they come out with a tune that doesn’t really seem to have much of a structure to it as Speech just takes the music in the way that the themes do, and so with such rebellious things as the foundation point, it seems right to just get loose and sing again the typical structure, but in my opinion it doesn’t make for a nice one.

**Two Stars**

8. “Fishin’ For Religion”

They perform a track that is seen to be much more conventional by Hip Hop standards as you see that here hey do one where they use their religious, and spiritual ideas and concentrate them in a way to fit the kind of thing that welcomed listeners at the star of the album with a speedy tune which takes on the style that Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G rap popularised at the turn of the nineties to make their dense concepts more managable.

**Four Stars**

9. “Give A Man A Fish”

They are seen to bring the Funk with this one, and with this as an offering, you can’t really turn them away as they come through hard from this point and come out with another tune that sounds as if it is a lot more traditional (based on the main production style) as it goes in the underground East Coast style of the time and makes for a nice one as they bring in their intensely-political rhymes which also looks down on the Gangsta Rap culture of the West Coast.

**Four Stars**

10. “U”

Sampling a little from Ramsey Lewis, this one is a track that uses the Speed Rap style, but I felt that it wasn’t used in the best way as it seems to loose all of what is said in the thought-provoking words of Speech and so leaves it lacking heavily and prevents listeners from really getting much from it at all (as the themes of earlier appears to persist through this one to complicate even things further as a result.

**Three Stars**

11. “Eve Of Reality” (Lude)

12. “Natural”

After another off-putting interlude, you find that here they return to the album with a fairly decent track as you see that they get into a fresh tune that has Speech flowing in a very exciting manner as you see that he works off the energy of the breaks to come out with short, sharp bursts on each line so that you are able to really feel each line before he moves on to the next one. It is one of the better ones on the album.

**Four Stars**

13. “Dawn Of The Dreads”

Working off a very ‘Funky bassline’ from Brother Larry you find that here you get a track that really jumps out at you as from this base component, you see that they are able to really jump out you massively with a Reggae-influenced tune (that came in on a low level with the Dancehall of “People Everyday”). It is a freaky tune and one that does big things for the album to help it flowing through and it acts as a bit of an escape.

**Four Stars**

14. “Tennessee”

This was the breakthrough single from the act and one that really deserved the attention it deserved as you see that as they work off some classic material from the likes of Kurtis Blow (in the track “Tough”) you see that they also introduce a little from Prince too for added measure as they all go hard with the material by fighting suppression with this one and do well by making such a successful jam.

**Five Stars**

15. “Washed Away”

They end the thing with this one and come in with a lengthy offering. You find that Speech comes in with the off-beat spoken word material here to further reinforce his alternative nature (and to fight again all the conventions in the Hip Hop word) but once again this kind of thing isn’t particularly impressive and doesn’t really make for a very nice listen and so doesn’t end the album in a very good way.

**Two Stars**

I felt that this release was largely overrated as really it doesn’t really have that much to offer and really, other than the odd track, the others that weren’t released as singles ll took on the regular style in Hip Hop and so didn’t continue the alternative ways that they could easily have brought into the mix. I would have to recommend it as the majority is strong, but the spiritual lyrics weren’t doing it for me and put me off as they seemed to take on the Jazz rap elements and take it just too far.  

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