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

He got no flow.

Meh

Not my favorite.

Kjedelig

Really hated this one honestly. Never been a fan of this style of music. Reminds me of will smith too much.

Oh boy. I remember when Arrested Development came onto the scene in 1992. Gangsta rap was on top of the world in hip-hop, and I guess some record executive thought a rap collective like AD would be good counter-programming, as the group was more alternative rap that focused on social issues and subjects that were important to black communities. In fact, one reviewer referred to them as “anti-gangsta rap.” At the time, I’m not sure that it helped or hindered the group. The album’s title refers to the amount of time it took to record the album and get it ready for release. I can tell you that at the time, I was a senior in high school and heading into the home stretch of my high school career. By this point, I was way into Metallica, the last days of hair metal, and slowly getting into the new alternative rock scene that was "grunge." Though I blamed "grunge" for cutting the hair of hair metal. I was also into gangsta rap as it felt new and dangerous. And for some country boys in rural Kentucky, it was our only glimpse into the inner city. It was also funny at times and just wild to hear all the f'n and jeff'n in the lyrics. The first song I heard from AD was Tennessee, which was the first single off the album. I hated it. Not sure I ever listened to it all the way through one time. It was boring. Let’s see if 35 years have changed things. Arrested Development is made up of Todd Thomas, aka Speech, and Timothy Barnwell, aka Headliner. Speech is a rapper, and Headliner is a “turntablist.” I could have sworn there were like three or four others in the group, but it seems it’s mainly Speech and Headliner. Track 1 is Man’s Final Frontier, and it’s the stereotypical opening to a debut album by a hip-hop group. You aren’t prepared for what you are about to hear. It’s the greatest thing ever in the history of the universe. Stuff like that. Then the song transfers over to the usual late 80s hip-hop music built off of samples. At this point in time, it’s a bit dated. We never thought it would happen. The greatest rap group in the world has arrived.... and will soon depart. Track 2 is Mama’s Always on Stage and it is a bit bluesy with record scratching. The song has a good message. It’s about how the community should rally around the single mothers who decided to have their baby, rather than terminate it. The community should help raise the child and use their collective wisdom to nurture and protect both the mother and the child. Not a bad song, an even better idea. Track 3 is People Everyday and this song sounds like 1990s hip-hop. The music is based on the Sly and the Family Stone song Everyday People. I liked this song alright. You can easily understand the rapping, which I miss in today’s mumbling, BS they call hip-hop. The song is about violence in the inner city and respect and how silly things lead to shootings. Just like the movie Friday. That’s all I could think about was the Craig and Deebo altercation. Not sure if this song tempered tempers, but I think in today’s climate, this kind of stuff isn’t just in the black communities. I think these days people of all colors and creeds are a little meaner, but they’re not tougher. I liked the song alright, I’m just pleased to be able to understand the lyrics. Track 4 is Blues Happy, and Speech introduces all the members of the band, of which I thought there were only two. Oh, this is a 30-second interstitial. Track 5 is Mr. Wendal, and it sounds familiar. It was the third single off the album. It uses another sample from Sly and the Family Stone, this time from the song Sing a Simple Song. Mr. Wendal is about a homeless man whom most people don’t treat with humanity or dignity, just because he’s down on his luck. Again, I like this song, but is it because I like Sly and the Family Stone? That’s the thing with hip-hop that uses samples. You use a great song and people are more likely to connect their nostalgic feelings to that song and like your song. But it’s cheating. I'm looking at you Rob Ritchie. Track 6 is Children Play With Earth and there’s a woman yelling at me about how our kids are spending too much time playing Nintendo and not enough time digging in the dirt. I agree. I think we as human beings have lost our connection to nature, and it’s really messed with the collective unconscious. Maybe I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I find myself agreeing with most of the sentiments of the songs on this album, but the music is kind of boring. As songs, they’re mid, as ideas, they’re interesting, if not a little old-fashioned at this point. Who among us doesn’t think video games or phones are a scourge to children? Or thinks we should stop thinking murder first when there are disagreements? I think that’s pretty universal. Track 7 is Raining Revolution and it’s another okay song. I think the music is more for the people of that time. Maybe AD was way ahead of their time. There are some critics who looked at AD as the originators of Southern rap. At this time, we had the rap wars of New York versus Los Angeles, East Coast versus West Coast. I was always certain the beef was like pro wrestling and 2-Pac and Biggie were on the phone every night trying to figure out new angles to make people buy into the ruse. Unfortunately, they worked themselves into a shoot, literally, as someone decided there needed to be a death to really cement the idea that there was a feud. Again, why couldn’t you just punch someone in the mouth instead of shooting them dead? I digress. This album is rather boring. Track 8 is Fishin’ 4 Religion and it’s about how hopes and prayers sometimes aren’t enough. Speech believes just praying for a change won’t do anything if you don’t practice an active faith and go out into the world and be the change you want to see. Put feet on those prayers as my Pappaw would say. The song’s message is great, but the music is blah. I’m skipping right to the big single off the album, Tennessee. I remember hearing this song on MTV 24/7. Apparently, Speech lost his grandma and brother in a quick succession, and this song is him praying for strength from God to handle the pain and sorrow. Again, love the sentiment, but I loathe the song. I don’t know if I’m just off today, but I didn’t enjoy this album. It’s just boring. For people who love hip-hop with more of a social bent, you might love this. The music is wildly outdated at this point and is caught between the 80s and what was to come from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Not a must-listen for me, but if you like hip-hop and have never heard of AD, check it out.

I forgot how good Mr. Wendal was. The rest of it seemed sort of monotonous. I felt like I was listening to the same track over and over and there were parts in each song that just repeated over and over.

2.5

Hip-Hop, nicht so mein Stil

Ok…nostalgic and reminds me of middle school

Honestly was hoping for something better.

The beats are often fun, the lyrics are sometimes thought-provoking and there's a nice flow between the first several tracks, but Arrested Development's debut album has very little else to offer. There's a pretty nice run of tracks from "Fishin' 4 Religion" to "U" – I probably would have given this album three stars if it ended right there, but it unfortunately kept spinning its wheels for another 22 minutes. Highlights: Man’s Final Frontier, Mr. Wendal, Fishin’ 4 Religion, Give a Man a Fish, U

I just thought it was ok. It didn't really make my ear perk up. some hip hop from the late 80s or early 90s sounds really dated, even though there were some hip hop artists that sounded ahead of their time and still sound fresh a few decades later.

No suena bien

meh. i get that this is defining for conscious rap but it’s kind of boring

It's a Rap Album with some interesting moments but overall Rap's not my cup of tea.

ambitious, but fails as often as it succeeds. just made me want to listen to other early 90s rap gems top track: Mr Wendell

Never listened. Expectations: None - Verdict: Alright - This is a fun listen but for me it lacks a bit of substance. My favourite parts are the singalong choruses and maybe the flow on some verses. The beats are fine but no more than that. People Everyday is a clear highlight, banger track. Definitely a pretty good album but it's not doing a lot for me.

Meh. This was nostalgic at best, but listening back although I enjoyed some of the Melodies overall I actually think this is quite a weak album. The lyrics are weird a lot of the time and it drags. For fifteen tracks…

Something that I kinda wanted to like a lot more than I did. I think it speaks volumes when you’re most streamed song by a mile has been mixed by someone else to actually make it popular. I also think 15 tracks on an album like this is just so indulgent, and things like this should really prioritise quality over quantity.

A couple good tunes. Nice message. No need to be on the list.

well, it certainly encapsulates a moment in time

- tää on varmaan joku uraauurtava levy mut ei ollu kyl mun kuppi teetä

Def hip hop roots but low key kinda ass

I appreciate this group’s attempt to make a ‘positive’ hip-hop album, but unfortunately the concept is much better than the execution. Lyrically it feels clunky, and their attempts to contrast themselves with gangsta rap come across as rather sanctimonious. More importantly, I was underwhelmed by both the rapping and most of the beats, which were quite repetitive. Much of the production has also dated poorly and is pretty cheesy. It’s not terrible (some tracks were decent), just largely uninteresting. It made almost zero lasting impression on me. I’m not surprised it took them a while to get a record deal.

Not really my thing

I spent 99% of this album hating it - it was on course for (I think) my first 1* of 2026. Then the last few songs happened. I really did enjoy “Dawn of the Dreads” and “Tennessee”; both were better than the rest of the album.

Gladkristent og litt slitsomt.

Ikke min greie. Hadde kanskje foretrukket en instrumental-versjon.

Hørt hjemme. Dørge kjedelig? Kan ikke huske en eneste låt bortsett fra fiskelåten som e nokka av det verste æ har hørt så langt 2026. Ellers OK- bakgrunnsmusikk.

Tamt. Veldig goody goody tekster. En hel sang om et ordtak...

I like what they were trying to do here. But they didn’t quite succeed in making it good. A couple decent songs can’t save this below average album.

People of the Day was a hard ass song, but the rest was so cheesy I got diarrhea

‘Hey! That’s the name of the show!’ T1 8th wonder of the world is hard T2 dopest beat with a harmonica. Just a totally sick mix. Junior wells playing that harp sample and pretty sure thers is a buddy guy composition in here. 1:45 yeaaaa this is what I like T4/5 these guys really sound like they have a big appreciation for predecessors in various genres. Usually when u can hear the gospel roots u can hear all the rockabilly and rhythm and blues that leads to rock, and same thing here. Sometimes artists you can tell really listened to James brown or Isley bros, but these guys don’t sound directly derivative, more so a conglomerate of inspiration from a hundred years of music (and that omitting any Afro beat they include), seems like they, or their engineers whatever, were students of music history and wanted to do their own thing. It’s weird how well this fits into the culture and environment of the 90s hip hop scene, so it’s surprising to me to have this group that can gel so well with what people would’ve been hearing on the radio (I mean how else are they gonna get radio play), and yet it doesn’t seem like a dated piece of ‘90s music’ like a lot of 90s rap and music in general is. No shade against the others just something about the diversity in this album makes it stand out. T8 up until 1:55 this was Kind of the ‘90s music I was referencing, not quite as coooie cutter, definitely not quite as cookie cutter, forsure more unique. Innervisions type beat T9 1:37 me at Thanksgiving “This is antisemetic bullshit! I’m gonna call my friends over at the jdl” fr tho black people do hate Italians Less thoughts as the album went on. Had a good time. Not my favorite but there’s a lot in there I really enjoyed listening to this morning.

Afrocentric comes into hip-hop and changes music with positivity, spirituality etc. I liked "People Everday" but mostly this album just reminded me of a sort of more soulful Beastie Boys. Not my favorite, but respect their influence.

parece listening de clase de inglés desos que te explican cosas sencillas con bolas y palitos jsjaja ;-; tiene dos que me gustaron pero no como pa revisitarlas lol

Very much an example of "they walked so others could run." This is by no means bad, and considering how early in the history of hip hop this album came out it's actually quite impressive. But listening to this over 30 years later, I just find it to be so dated and even in some ways quite cheesy and corny. I'm sure that at the time that style was all the rage, but there is still a hell of a lot of hip hop from this era that by a landslide has aged better, and I think that comparison is very telling to how "essential" this album really is.

Not my cup of tea. to put the album in perspective. During the time period, you had warring factions, East Coast vs West Coast rap culminating in the drive-by shooting deaths of Tupac and Notorius B.I.G.. Arrested Development's album was the South's answer to country's rap scene, with the huge hit Tennessee. Where both coast's rap is essentially about thug life, A.D,'s album was about everyday black life and their history. i think that's probably why it's on most rap critic's top twenty most influential albums of the genre.

Give a man a fish he will eat for a day .....

Not terribly interesting to me. Lots of Afro-American spoken word, really. Not my thing.

Another hip hop album that had more creativity and didn’t rely on tropes, but I didn’t feel like the flow and beats were as compelling as other similar albums. It had a decent amount of variety but I mostly found it either ok or a bit on the boring side. A few less tracks might have boosted this a bit but it wasn’t really for me.

"Fishin for religion" took a dire turn for me for what was up till then reasonably promising as I didn't hate the album.  GOD awful song pun intended.  The very next fishy song was no catch either. Did they steal my old childhood keyboard as well as its like they had a play with the presets / demos. Refreshing they didn't just bang on about typical gangster topics of 90's and had some musical variety.  Even Funky at times. Got through it but not enough here for me to want to revisit.

Didn't resonate with me.

Hip hop

not my hiphop

Meh, mediocre 90s hip hop

If I appreciated the genre a little more my review would have lent more positive, instead this is a fairly long album that I found uninteresting. I didn't find it offensively bad at all, just not for me. 2 Stars.

3 Years 5 Months And 2 Days / 10

Never heard of this band or album before. I've no clue what I'm in for going off of this cover. I'm hedging my bets on a weird rock act. Ah, fuck. It's hip-hop, meaning I'm in for... fifty-six minutes of music. Not that bad when considering the established track record, though I've been getting absolutely bent over by these long ass albums lately. This isn't in the top twenty hip-hop albums, so I remain at having heard eleven of the highest-rated albums. Guess I gotta keep soldiering on. Anyways, on with the music. I didn't mind this one all that much. There's an admirable level of ambition to this music with how regularly it hops between differing themes, moods and genres. The vocalist on this album also has a decent flow for this style of music. What really holds this album back for me, however, is the mastering. The muffled, lo-fi sound really does not gel with this music and completely saps whatever kick these song would otherwise have. The bass guitar sounds very close to a MIDI instrumental, which is pretty bleak. Many of the lyrics are also pretty cheesy and uninspired. Granted, at this point I'd rather listen to something puerile and unremarkable over the seminal, heavy-hitter hip-hop albums that I'm constantly being subjected to. "Man's Final Frontier" is decent. The cosmic theming and classic, 90s hip-hop sound is pretty cool. "Eve of Reality" also has a neat sound going for it. I always enjoy when nature sounds are sampled in music, especially when it's paried with an ethereal, otherworldly sound like it is here. "Washed Away" has gotta be one of the worst album closers I've heard. It just goes on forever and is extremely, unimaginably, painfully drab. Book time. A whole lotta nothin in there. Wikipedia reveals that this album was very well received by critics, performed well commercially and marked a changing tide within popular hip-hop music. Yeeeah, I'm snubbing this one. In place of this album, I humbly submit April by Round Table for inclusion on the list.

I completely forgot to rate this. And I think that's because I forgot I listened to it.

< the Beatles Good beats and whatnot but it goes on too long and I'm just not into super christiany music.

Great music and lyrics, but the goofiness levels on the vocal delivery is hilarious and really drags this down. Also, much too long. 1.5/5.0: Bad

This was okay but really not as good as the hype I remember on MTV when in Jr High. The radio sounds were familiar to my ear but not anything ground breaking. I’d put this in the same category as de la soul, maybe more professional but similarly okay but not shockingly good, 30 years later.

Tja, lød fint men ikke noget særligt

Not really my type of rap.. Interesting take though. Appreciated the lack of skits.

Vocal album with a mix of backing tracks and some interesting lyrical moments make this a bit more than your average rap LP. Still not my cup of tea.

Ei mitään ihmeellistä, tosin kiva oli kuunnella hiphopia "pitkästä aikaa", 2/5

Not bad but too repetitive and without any standouts to me.

As far as the hip-hop that we have been given on this list, this one was one of the more enjoyable selections. It had a funky rhythm, and the lyrics did not want to make you cringe.

The music is ok. I recognize several songs. I just don’t relate or feel any connection with this.

Deze site leert mij dat hiphop niet echt mijn ding is

Decent beats, but this is just way too preachy and corny for my taste. It's giving youth pastor vibes. Tennessee however is a banger.

so overrated - so much better hip hop in that time span.

1992. I just can't see why this album is part of the 1001 process. Mr. Wendal can do one, and take his nondescript 90s MTV fodder with him. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ Lacks identity ★★☆☆☆(4/10)

Weiß nicht. Hat mich irgendwie nicht angesprochen.

I feel like this record tries too hard to be a conscious hip-hop album. Some of the lyrics were just too weird, notably most of the lyricism in "Natural". I enjoyed most of the production, but there were also some unusual instrumental choices, especially found in the latter half of the record. Favourite Track(s): Fishin' 4 Religion Least Favourite Track(s): Natural

Pretty experimental Lots of weird messages in the songs

Disappointed with how boring this album is. There's one intensity level for the entire album, and it just turns into a lull that I didn't find engaging. Certainly different for 90s rap, but not for me unfortunately. Top tracks: Raining Revolution, Dawn Of The Dreads

The TV show unironically clears this.

Eh felt verrrry dated

Eh, I remember trying to get into this album when it came out - everyone was raving about it and it didn't do much for me. Still doesn't, even now that I'm trying to be a lot more open minded. The songs all feel like they drag and the aspirational lyrics just don't connect with me (which might be a function of not living a disadvantaged life - does it say something that I find optimistic rap boring? Then again, I often find gangsta rap uncomfortable - maybe there's a middle ground, but this ain't it). Tracks I liked most: Mr. Wendal, Fishin' 4 Religion, Washed Away. Most awkward track: Natural - settle down, Speech. I'm uncomfortable on behalf of the girl he's singing to.

Not a huge fan

Pretty Bad

funk, hiphop, world, rap, 1992 -> 2

Didn't enjoy this. Most of it passed me by without my even noticing.

I dont know what they were trying to do but if this took 3 years they need to lock the fuck in

It's ok Will I listen to again: 1%

Not great

Meh

joa geht so

Unremarkable. Boring. Not my thing.

Primera semana de mayo con éste disco, con una banda que creo ubicar de nombre. Sumo la recomendación de hoy a los álbumes para poner de fondo mientras se trabaja. Hasta mañana.

donas

2.5

Hip hop doesn't really impress me, I guess. It doesn't help that the lyrics are entirely unsubtle. This one's not bad, it's just not for me.

It was ok, I liked other hip hop albums from this era better though.

2,5

There is something deeply lame in this album. Somewhere down there is a Nugget of the cringe. Idk man this had very good production and not very good vocals in my opinion. The content feels very preachy and just like I'm being talked down to. Idk if I'm reading that right but that's what I felt in the moment. And it's just old. Nothing against the Olds but it's too close to hip a hop a hip and to the hop for my taste. Not it's own fault but it still is either way.

i don't if it's just because i feel frustrated because i have been getting mid albums but ...

There's just... A vibe around Arrested Development that I have a hard time getting past. It's all summarized in this quote from Robert Christgeau, where he says that "their short-term commercial success was a long-term musical fraud--limp, sententious rap feel-goodism quickly forgotten once it failed to drive the scary stuff away." I get the impression that they were only as praised and rewarded as they were because they vehemently anti-gangsta rap. And I get it. As much as I love a lot of gangsta rap, I'm not gonna act like there's not a lot of shit it should be rightly criticised for, particularly its treatment of women. It's absolutely pervious. Plus, hey, I'm generally down for the group's mission to promote love instead of hate. It's something I try to live by, myself; lifting up the stuff I love instead of wasting time focusing on what I hate. I figure I'll be happier for it in the long run. Problem is, the group's leader, Speech, comes across to be insufferable sanctimonious. Like he's standing on a pedestal of soap boxes, burning judgement into me as he stares down his nose. He raps in a tone of voice like he's so humble and wise; dispensing simple yet life-altering words of wisdom. But I'unno, it feels like he should be telling me to pull up my pants and eat my vegetables, with the smugest energy imaginable radiating. It was honestly so distracting to me that nothing else was really able to hit for me. Like, I should be giving all of the credit in the world to the Headliner for the beats and Dionne Farris for her amazing vocals — y'know, both providing something to maybe distract me from Speech's preaching — but it's kind of hard when they're doing this in service of shit like "Mr. Wendal". Like, no, Speech, just because the homeless should be treated better doesn't mean they're secretly prophets and fountains of wisdom. Crawl out of your own ass and see what's actually going on around you, huh? Like, gosh, if I wasn't bored by this album, I was mildly frustrated by it. And knowing that I could've listened to worse (see their second album) doesn't make anything better. I mean, really, to paraphrase Todd In The Shadows, if the choice comes down between Snoop Dogg and these guys, they lose, every time. Snoop at least never talked down to me about how things, "unh, **should be**." I'unno. I'm at a 2 with this thing. If I could ignore Speech and just vibe with it, maybe I'd at least be generous enough for a high 3, but nah. I'm good with a 2. (And seriously — what the hell was "Warm Sentiments" on that second album? Like, oh my goodness, Speech, shut your entire mouth, I swear.)

Et andet forsøg med hip hop.. Musikken trækker op, men istedet for det hårde gangster liv, så får man her belærende salmer.. Det var måske den eneste måde at fucke genren mere op på....

Sounds rather bland overall. Too middle-of-the-road, and I found the first few tracks boring, repetitive, and without a message. I got bored of the sampling too, and a lot of the concepts of the tracks was rather one-note. Inoffensive.

Kids bop gangsta rap

A little long, not to many musical highlights **the ATCQ review above was meant to be for this one

Flojo.

Besides “Mr. Wendal”, “People Everyday “, and “Tennessee”, the rest of the album was boring and monotonous. I appreciate that they tried to inject a positive message into rap, but I just found to be really bland.

Not particularly memorable.

Fine, but for an album from 1992 this sounds like it could have been from 1988. For a time when rap was changing so rapidly, I would expect to hear more innovative sounds from an album on this list.

This was pretty fun and I enjoyed the instrumentation, but I just couldn't get into it fully. Maybe it's the fact that I usually struggle to enjoy hip hop and rap, but this album kind of bled together for me. 2.5 stars

I listen to a lot of hip hop and there's some things about this that I like a lot. Love the message and some of the musicality in the beats and mixes are cool. But the lyricism falls flat for me and the idea behind the album also doesn't really connect. 3 Years 5 months and 2 days isn't even that long for a band before they get a record deal.

I honestly wanted to like this a lot more than I did but there were so many times I felt like I was really struggling to get to the end

I would not wait that long for this

I did not really like this.

I really thought I was going to love this album completely. Old school southern rap? Sign me up! It starts great, and it ends great, but everything in the middle was a complete and total bore to me. How disappointing. Giving this a very high 2

4/10 - It was fine. A lot of the backing tracks sounded the same. I feel like most 80s and 90s hip-hop sound basically the same and it is just not the style that I like.

Not terrible, but not great either.

This is a very positive album. Like in the Will Smith genre of rap/hip hop. On that note, it’s not for me but I can acknowledge that it almost has its place in the list that it is presented in. Most songs flutter just above the listenable level but when they aim for the stars, the blow past them into whatever is beyond the stars they aimed for. People Everyday and Mr.Wendel carry this album farther than it should have gone. There are samples. There are, at times, decent hooks but again, it’s the Will Smith friendly hour with these guys. They don’t seem like they could ever be filled with rage. Choice cut: People Everyday

2 sterne

Too long. Too many beats that sound like they were made in Guitar Pro. Very repetitive.

Probably didn’t listen to this as intently as I should have done. Seemed okay but not one to come back to 4/10

Not really my thing but some bits of it were funky enough to make it bearable. I’m just not a rap fan, though this was very family friendly 90s rap, so I actually made it through the whole record!

I would agree this is a hip-hop history artifact. A tough listen and would not listen to again.

Recommended for: - old hippies who get sentimental when someone says "we just to need to, like, unite humankind, you know" - hip hop fans anxiously pondering what to show to their grandma who just asked to be shown some of their music - people who REALLY like Sly and the Family Stone samples

Yeah, it's fine. I like it more than a lot of the other rap albums I've listened to on here so far, but I still don't think I'd put it on just to listen to for fun.

Not my style

Mama’s Always On Stage //

This feels like it was written for 90s children’s programming.

"peaceful hip hop" is an interesting idea, but musically this album is not so interesting

"they represented unity, they represented peace, they represented this. *mildly clenches fist and raises it* whatever this is, they represented 100% of that." - Usher this is your stepdad's favorite rap album. he says it's because it tackles real issues and doesn't delve into glorifying the life of a "thug" and that Speech wants real change. you listen to it and you understand the real reason this is your stepdad's favorite album: it is 56 minutes of the record agreeing with him. i can nearly picture him stroking his goatee and nodding whenever a particularly "conscious" bar comes up. "yes... yes... that's so true..." every time i have to hear Speech rap about how the best thing a Black revolution can be kickstarted by is getting a woman pregnant and loving God and not being a gangsta stereotype over those corny fucking Casio beats, it's like biting into a Spicy McChicken and getting a particularly wilted piece lettuce or a sickening amount of mayo in your mouth. it also feels like you're eating it right outside of a Music City Hot Chicken. like, i had other options -- better options. why would i choose this?

Wanted to like this and there were some nice moments (Tennessee…Tennessee) and most excellent baselines… …but there was too much 1) record scratching, 2) banter at the beginning of songs 3) repetition—I never want to hear “dig your hands in dirt, children play with earth” again

Я хуею с отбора рэпа в этом списке

meh

Für Hip Hop okay. Mr. Wendal und Tennessee sind aus den 90ern bekannte Songs. Den Rest kann man mal hören, verpasst aber auch nichts, wenn man es nicht macht. 2/5

Bordering on slam poetry some of this

I remember when I heard "Mr. Wendell" for the first time, I really REALLY liked it. And then it dawned on me that the reason I liked it is because I don't like hip-hop (generally). That track is a bit of a microcosm for the whole album: it's pleasing and catchy, but totally without urgency. Pedestrian, idealist nonsense spews from Speech's mouth (in my opinion, one of the most conservative rappers, independent of his skin colour and pretensions). It's all just a bit limp for me now, even if it charms you into believing otherwise.

2.5, kinda corny but good music

People Everyday is great. The rest not so much. They just tend to meander a lot, like what the hell is Blues Happy? Either way it was a bit of a slog but I'll pass on anymore of this.

unfortunately for me as i love this whole era of hip-hop, this has not aged anywhere near as well as some of its contemporaries

Crazy to think this sold millions of copies and now it's almost nearly forgotten by all. I'll give them that there are some original ideas in there, mostly how they approach beats with different instruments. But most of it just sounds goofy now, this has aged terribly.

The most soft and mellow hip-hop album I've ever heard. No, it's not a compliment.

It's stunning how those beats can stay mid for an hour long. An what about this flat delivery of the lyrics? It was weak.

Not the most creative or interesting album. Some bright spots though.

Chewing gum commercial music

I’m always unsure how to feel about this album. Its messages aren’t…very good. Mr. Wendell is TERRIBLE a song about a homeless man that paints the homeless as wise dispensers of knowledge detached from our consumerist culture. And not people who are suffering the injustice of that system that forces them on the streets. It’s insulting frankly. It all comes of as preachy and holier than thou. Which is a shame because I like a lot of the beats and music. Just not the lyrics. Like I’m all for kids having more respect for the earth and where food comes from but by being like teehee stop playing with Nintendo. Good lord. Tennessee is really good. The album is interminably long

This album is Psyop by the US government to try to convince the urban population to go about changing the world in the right way. "Empower yourselve's fellow black people, don't turn to gang violence and crime to get by, put your faith in Christ and realize your own power to rise up through perseverance, education, and strength of character" George HW Bush was in charge and if the minorities weren't going to shape up he was going to flood their neighborhoods with crack and let the prison system have a crack at it. I'll let you decide what happened next. Jokes aside, I think the beats on this are solid but a bit stagnant for my liking. Clearly there's some talent going into these beats, it feels like a real DJ and the rapping fits right over. That being said, I don't care for the lyrical flows and I think they tend to be basic rhyme schemes in the interest of making the message fit. If it weren't for the Jurassic 5 album yesterday, I think that this would be higher because it shows off how much better the genre would be in just a few years. Additionally, I didn't care for Tennessee. It didn't do anything for me, and some of the tracks on here reminded me of Smash Mouth.

It's not bad but some parts are really annoying. 2

Not bad, but also not exciting or, special in any way. Just dated old school rap/hip hop.

This may have been the first hip-hop album I ever bought. And I dug it for about two weeks until I got tired of it and never listened to it again. Today, I wondered why this album didn't have staying power. It's produced well. It's catchy. I dig the overall positivity from these guys. But it's pretty corny and preachy and not even the tiniest bit profound. It's hard to hate on, but at the same time, it's like the "Free to Be You and Me" of hip-hop.

Never listened to Arrested Development much and this album reminded me why. It’s a bit too zany and corny at times, with that early hip hop sound before the hard-hitting gritty production came onto the scene. This album is playful and entertaining, but doesn’t resonate much with me. Hopefully others enjoy it more than I do.

3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... is sort of like Janet Jackson from the other day, they set out wanting to deliver a message and the music becomes an afterthought. By 1992 hip-hop was already sounding quite different, layered and bigger than this, and although it's a fun and energetic sound it's also really stale and not interesting enough. Another meh 2 though it's better than Janet's effort.

Didn't grab me really, pretty straight down the line early-ish hip hop. There's a lot more interesting other stuff going round at this time, this is almost easy listening in comparison. We've had some other more feel good hip hop - Tribe Called Quest the obvious one I can think of - and that was much better than this is, doesn't really bite at all. 2/5.

Oldschool hiphopalbum. It actually sounds like an important work, but it does not really much for me.

Kinda goofy and annoying. D teir.

I'm usually down for some upbeat, positive, early 90s hip-hop but this one didn't do it for me. The beats and rhymes are solid but not very impactful or memorable. Most of all, it's pretty heavy-handed in the messaging. They were clearly setting out to be an antithesis to the era's over-the-top gangster rap but sometimes it feels like it goes too far in the other direction. There's a good amount to appreciate here but in the end, this album feels more like part of a time capsule than essential listening.

Hip hop just isn't an interesting musical style for me. At least this isn't full of swearing like some others I can mention, so this album is a bit better than some hip hop that this list has passed my way.

Some of this was catchy, and lyrically interesting, but it's still not my thing.

Dug the storytelling of the lyrics, but felt more artsy than fun

Starting this project, I wasn't a fan of hiphop. Then, album after album has proven me wrong. Public Enemy is great, De La Soul is fun, Kanye West is talented, The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy have a good message, etc. There is a limit though, and Arrested Development draw that line. I didn't hate the album, I just disliked it. Not for me.

It gets incredible conceptual and all the ligjts shine the brighest ligjt to the nysic.. and it conoletely blinds you, you screan in pian as the nerves in your head collapse as the music siphons the will to live... straught oug of you...

Kiinnittää välillä huomion, muttei aina hyvällä tavalla, sillä tällä levyllä sanoitusten silmplistisyys ei yleensä välity rohkeutena. Tennesseessa on koukkua, tai ainakin koukkuisuutta.

meh

meh...I like Tennessee but 15 tracks of Hotep is a bit much for me.

Def appreciate the early rap days contribution and style. But I liked other groups more.

Enjoyable but didn't stand out. Not a fan of spoken interludes.

As far as early pioneers of the Hip Hop genre, Arrested Development might not be at the top of the "most influential acts" list, but their material has aged pretty well, compared to a lot of the early stuff to come from that early era

Taki se hiphop z lat 90 z filmow instruktarzowych, tutoriali tanecznych gdzie bialy nauczyciel ubrany w luzne ubrania i przekrzywiona czapke pokazywal jak sie ruszac

first listen. interesting but not my cup of tea.

Nauseating positive black pride, black identity stuff, or at least that's what I took from it. OK, but I don't want to listen to a whole album of it, especailly one with tedious backing tracks, slow delivery of lyrics, and musical motifs I associate with 90s R&B, which I hate.

Some fun beats but the rapping is too weak for me to enjoy it. Keep in mind this dropped the same time “It Was a Good Day” by Ice Cube and the first singles of Illmatic came out. There was significantly better rap coming out at this time. Do I give it a 3 because I like rap and it was probably influential? *Insert Lord of the Rings Isildur “no” meme*

This is a classic example of 90s rap having incredible beats with lyricism that just ends up sounding corny 30 years later. I can see that it was groundbreaking in its era and there is a lot of meaning behind the lyrics, but goodness, rap certainly matured over time. There were a couple songs I enjoyed, but most of the album I would rather have just listened to the instrumentals. The baseline on Dawn Of The Dreads goes so hard. It wasn’t bad, I just don’t know if I’ll come back to it.

Just didn't really do much for me.

I see how it influenced other artist! Not for me tho

3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... is the debut album by American hip hop group Arrested Development. This alternative hip hop album began the popularization of the Southern hip hop genre which emphasizes spirituality, peace, and love, over the aggressiveness of gangsta rap that was dominating the east and west coasts of America. Although it was a ground-breaking debut album that was critically acclaimed at release, the popularity of gangsta rap continued to prevail as the most listened to hip hop genre. This album has been certified platinum in Australia & the UK, double platinum in Canada, and quadruple platinum in the US. This hip hop album was a lot different than any of the other ones I have listened to. It sounded more open and free flowing, allowing more dialog to take over instead of the faster raps. Although it was a fresh take on the hip hop genre, I do not like it over other types of hip hop and rap. Too slow and groovy for my tastes. But still, a fine and historic album.

El primer disco de Arrested Development supuso un paso más en la evolución del rap. La apuesta de este colectivo de músicos por un rap alternativo, con bases sonoras inspiradas en el groove relajado sureño, el blues rural, la percusion africana, el funk y R&B melódico, era sin duda un gran avance. Sus mensajes positivos fueron mejor acogidos por el público del pop-rock, pero su llamada a la unidad de los negros, la igualdad y la fraternidad estaba muy lejos de las raíces contraculturales del estilo. Personalmente destacaría su homenaje a los "sin techo" en el tema "Mr. Wendal". También "Mama's Always On Stage", la bienintencionada "Give A Man A Fish", con su apelación al dicho "da un pez a un hombre y comerá un día, enséñale a pescar y comera siempre", y la plegaria con tintes religiosos "Tenessee".

Just not a hip hop fan. Sorry

Not bad but found it slightly boring. The only song I really loved was Fishin’ 4 Religion.

Not my thing again, but it was nice that from the time period this wasn’t gangster rap. Made a nice change.

Nice to hear the singles again I guess, but I don’t think they were the radio edits I remembered (?). The rest just passed me by.

I own this, and didn't mind it at the time. Southern Hip-hop doesn't have that wonderful 'Coast vibe, which can only be a good thing. Nice and chilled out. So gets a low 2.

Annoying, and far too much nonsense going on.

Nope, sorry, not my type of hip-hop. This is kinda (really) cheesy. I don't have any deeper opinion on this and can't even think of any quirky one-liner. In one ear and out the other. Two outta five.

Not for me

Not bad but not my vibe

Ei kyl ysäri (tai mikään räppi) lähde

me gustaron algunos temas pero mmm como diría liam gallagher "not for me mate" 2/5. pd: seguramente lo escuche más seguido a ver si cambio de opinión, stay tuned

Not bad. Not upset I heard it but probably will not listen to this again.

A rap album for people who don’t like hip hop. Funky but preachy. Detached from youth culture. As if your parent made a rap album that was somehow pretty tight musically. It doesn’t matter I am parent myself now and fully agree with the sentiment that children should “let go of their Nintendo joysticks and go dig in the earth”, I am not interested in music as a teaching tool.

Meh. It's alright but suffers from its age.

Another long hip hop album. Cheesy bars and samples

LOL these guys were CORNY. According to the personnel section on their wikipedia page, one of the band member's role was "spiritual elder." Man, get the fuck out of here with that shit. Also, "In November 2003, the group sued the Fox network over the name of the TV show Arrested Development."

Thought I'd like this more Mr Wendal the standout track.

Not a bad album by any means and it’s a fun listen, but it feels incredibly dated (not just lyrically as some critical reviews seem to have focused on, but musically as well). It’s easy to compare to another 1992 album The Chronic, but even with earlier work like The Low End Theory and De La Soul is Dead, it just doesn’t seem as forward thinking sonically, and seems very stuck in that late 80s hip-hop sound

I've tried. I just can't get into Arrested Development. I start to listen and want to really focus, then the music just fades into the background. There's just very little here that I can find to be exciting to listen to. I like the live instrumentation (I assume a lot of it is), but I don't know if they are the band that does live instrumentation best. There is positivity in the lyrics, but I think there are other artists that convey that message better. This album got a lot of acclaim because it was released right before gangsta rap became big. But now, it feels like an album out of time and out of place in 1992. It's like hearing Bon Jovi in 1992, where the music wasn't bad but it wasn't of its time anymore. Still, this is not a bad album, but I don't know if I recommend it.

Probably not something I would ever listen to again. Some interesting parts, not bad, but not really exciting either.

Refreshing, but not my favorite. I get why it's on the list though.

tråååkig dated hiphop... preachy och meh

I don't like this kind of music 2 stars

It's fun, but it definitely feels dated. Songs like Natural I think don't hold up well compared to something like Give A Man A Fish. I found I wasn't super into the record scratches and the flow of the words as much. I think a lot of the backing was real fun, but I just think the Fresh Prince vibe is a bit too dated for me.

Meandering and uninspiring. I'm glad popular non-gangsta-hiphop existed out there in the early 90s for humanities sake, but this just ain't for me.

I enjoyed this but it didn’t captivate me in any way. It’s definitely neat to see the lineage of that southern branch of hip hop.

Hip hop usually leaves an impression on me, but with this album I was just… bored

Okay, I am officially fed up with 50+ minute, 30+ years old hiphop albums on this list. It's not that I think this is bad, I just cannot absorb content of this format anymore. 2 stars I guess.

This is a super pretentious album that has some pretty bad takes on it when you sit and listen to the lyrics. This becomes more prevalent on their failed follow up to this album

Shrug

mehhh

Ei mikään paska mutta ei kyllä kolahtanutkaan. Alkaa kisaväsymys painamaan aika pahasti tämän haasteen kanssa.

This was not a good album at all. It was also fairly long which made it worse. The beats are not memorable at all (except for maybe People Everyday), and the rapping is just ok, nothing special but not bad (although corny at times). The worst part is simply the songs themselves; they are really not good. Kind of all over the place.

Fun positive vibes but not really my thing, or all that memorable.

Un peu plate, manque colle pour tout faire tenir ensemble

56 Minuten und 13 Sekunden im Leben… des Rezensenten, die dieser vollkommen bedeutungslos empfand und seine Langeweile nur durch das lesen der Zeitung abzumildern vermochte.

Funky but not my thing

After 3 years, 5 months and 2 days, they came up with this? Although it has some interesting bass lines, it feels like a waste of time.

This sounds like an album that could be something I really like, but the execution is way off

Honestly it was just kind of boring to me. A lot of the background noise was repetitive and a little obnoxious, but overall it was just meh- nothing exciting. It wasn’t necessarily bad but just uninteresting.

Not bad. Still not my normal genre. Wouldn't play on my own.

hip hopppppppp n consegui escutar tudo fiquei entediado primeiro album q eu escutei aqui gostei de mama's always on stage até (eu acho)

Its very interesting how Arrested Development have been erased from music history, when people talk about the history of conscious Hip Hop somehow people never bring up this Grammy award winning act. Although its likely that win that cemented their downfall. 90's Hip Hop was all about threatening the establishment, both in the realms of Gangsta Rap and other conscious groups like The Native Tongues, and that Grammy was the ultimate stamp of approval from the musical establishment. It also doesn't help how *preachy* the group could be at times. The fun beats and gorgeous vocals on tracks like Tennessee help to offset this problem, but frontman Speech can be just insufferable at times. Apparently this was an issue behind the scenes as well, and by the time you reach this albums follow up 'Zingalamaduni' it just feels like an hour of boring lecturing about the evils of edgy Hip Hop and how to live your life correctly (especially on the track Warm Sentiments which is just gross in all the wrong ways). But as I said prior, on this album it really isn't THAT bad. Although that doesn't necessarily mean its 'good'. Ultimately I can see why Arrested Development never had the staying power of their contemporaries. Despite some theoretical good intentions, the group just doesn't reach the heights of their contemporaries musically or even politically (when was the last time you heard anyone shilling Afrocentrism?). I can see why one would really enjoy this record but to me and seemingly most Hip Hop fans, its inessential at best. Highlights: Tennessee

mr wendall

Not my thing, but I let it play through the whole way and wasn’t bothered by it. Nothing stuck though. I can’t remember a single song. And I hate this album name, it’s clunky and obnoxious.

Cool sound and it's my first time hearing this band. When the TV Show by the same name came out I really loved it- I thought it was such a great and unique name and I didn't know there was a band with the same name that came before it. I guess it's also just a relatively uncommon (but still used) phrase too? I guess I've had a blind spot to the phrase until now. Anyway, this sound is great; it's inherently very positive and fun and easy to put on and groove to. I found that it was a great pick-me-up for an otherwise bland Thursday where I ran out of coffee and was needing something to keep my eyes open and my mind moving. I'm sitting between a 2 and a 3. The songwriting didn't really blow me away and the output of the music is really highlighted by the tone and feels rather than the smaller building blocks of harmony and melody that other times make songs good. For me it's a 2/5.

Not my style (35%)

Great album

Started off brightly enough then goes on a bit and meanders to nowhere. It's OK, but I wouldn't listen again.

I'm getting sick of early 90s rap on this generator. I do really like hip hop, but I'm getting stuff Queen Latifah and Public Enemy and Gang Starr, which did not age well, when there's plenty of early 90s hip hop that absolutely slays like Tribe Called Quest, Notorious B.I.G., Nas. This album fell somewhere inbetween. It was better than the stuff that shows it's age, but still not anything exception to my ears. Overall enjoyable, but not something I'll be returning to. Give me the good stuff!

a run of 90s frenetic edutainment beats, some clever anti-gang but pro-protest positivity raps that drones on for way too long. like a worse version of Tribe

2/5

Not my thing

No es lo que normalmente escucharía, no me disgusta, me gusta la mezcla de sonidos que le dan una vibra como ¿espiritual? Distinto a el hip hop/rap que he escuchado

Well, I cannot really relate to most of the songs on this album, being that I am a nearly middle-aged white man and almost the entire album is ethnocentric. That being said, I was excited to listen to this album at first because I do love rap and hip-hop, and I love all the disc scratching many songs from the '90s have. However, I think the songs are just super boring and cheesy. The songs have good meaning, I guess that's one positive thing I can say about it.... It came off a little preachy, though, but at the same time, I think it's a bit hard not to with everything spelled out the way they are in the lyrics of the songs on this album. I will note that I did like the song "Mr. Wendal."

This is the most dated-90s shit I’ve heard in my life

🎶give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day…🎶 had a fun time staining wood to this album but the repetitive choruses and religious overtones aren’t usually what I’m craving in music

Pretty dorky album. I really enjoy this era of hiphop, and after Tribe Called Quest came on as a suggestion after the album was over I realized how inferior this album was.

It’s was a feel good album from the sounds and beats. That 90s sound in this genre is always a hit. Not an album I would go back to but that’s just my personal preference rather than a flaw with the album

I really just don't care about early 90s hip hop.

People Everyday is such a good song. Most of the other songs sounded the same to me? I like the overall feel, but by the last few songs I was ready to move on.

The album is alright. I don't see myself revisiting any of the songs again. I skipped through some. The beats were alright but not the best hip hop.

Gospel shite with no crypto

I like mamas always on stage

Echt veel te eentonig en kabbelt teveel voort

Recognized Mr. Wendal... as a concept the album was pretty cool, but there's something about that early 90s house drum kit that immediately downgrades songs.

kinda boring, instrumentals are nice but not too much into this style of rap, feels a bit cheesy

DNF - verrryyyyy 90s production, everything sounds the same and just not my jam

idk what genre this is supposed to be but its not for me. 2.

Pleasant enough. I knew the Mr Wendal song but everything else passed by in a haze. 2.5 stars.

Hip-Hop - Not my kind of music

Very much an early 90s hip hop record, some good messages thrown in with some damnations of “gangsta rap”. A lot of good vocal performances and good (although a bit dated) production. Although I didn’t really find any of these sticking with me the way Tribes’ debut did.

Early hip hop, her gikk det i 100, men den hadde sin sjarm!

A big bloody hairy pussy of a record. Pouring with blood all over my face. Slurp it in.

Michael Cera swinging a mop around like a lightsaber

A bit repetitive. I don't really have a song that stood out for me enough to listen to again. It definitely has several themes going through it, however, still find it lyrically not interesting enough. Vocally/musically also nothing that caught my attention. Very easy to listen to and original album and band name. A 2/5 for me

early days of rap

A fine classic hip-hop album (ah, how cool were the early 90's with their record scratching and simple flows). Mr Wendel is a great tune, the rest is a bit meh.

No esta mal preo no es pa mi el hip hop

Played incessantly on Triple J at the time, I had no great love for Arrested Development then and no greater affection for them now. I remember a younger friend (probably 15 at the time) loving this, and it blew his mind when I played Sly and the Family Stone. This album is much more positive in tone than most hip-hop of its era (mostly the incredibly violent and misogynistic gangsta rap), which is something of a relief, but it feels like a pale imitation of Sly and the Family Stone (sampled, copied and interpolated across the album). It doesn't have the same freshness, surprises or sophistication as other 'conscious rap' of the time; the politics seems asinine compared to PE, less surprising than De La Soul, and less funky than Tribe. It feels like basic sloganeering when compared to the more nuanced lyrical approach of those other groups. It's pleasant enough to listen to, although I would like a bit more grit in the production to give a more authentically funky feel. The constant scratching is occasionally annoying. Some catchy songs (People Everyday, Give a Man A Fish, Tennessee), but I heard them enough on the radio back in the day to last me a lifetime.

Did not care for this!

Melodic disruption

This album is on-point with the mixes and flow. So why does it feel like I'm being preached to by some overly enthusiastic freshman that thinks he's found some radical views on God and monogamy? This isn't speaking one's truth, it is judging and converting in hip form. Diminishes the talent here.

This album was huge at the time and in a year where hip hop gave us Ice Cube’s The Predator, Dr Dre’s The Chronic, Bizarre Ryde II The Pharcyde and Check Your Head from The Beasties, it was this one the music press went gaga. However, whilst the other albums listed have endured this album stands up not at all well. The beats are under cooked, Speech’s preachy delivery is underwhelming and the overall album has few stand out tracks, Tennessee being the major highlight (here the original version of People Everyday is inferior to the single remix). It’s not as if this album represented a change in direction for rap, away, say, from the gangsta rap that tended to predominate; there were plenty of socially conscious and Afro centric rappers. And in spite of an obvious overlap in tone with acts such as De La Soul, Speech manages to diss De LA’s track Buddy. Imagine dissing De La Soul! But look, they’re still going and good luck to them. They did try something different and they had a massive impact, even if the album had lost a little over time.

Cool

The lyrics were refreshing (uplifting, Afrocentric, and spiritual with no hoes or mothafuckas), but it was still rap, and I could not get into it.

bland 90s hip hop rap. Tennessee is dope

The singles stood out, but not much else. I was expecting more.

This was ok.

The two singles are great. The rest of the album is dross.

2/5 not my cup of tea

Apart from a few exceptions, I really hate hip hop, because it usually is a cesspool of misogynistic wannabe "gangstas" without much talent. This album is a welcome step up; it really has a positive vibe. This being hip hop, I really can't listen to it for any extended amount of time, but tracks like Mr. Wendal and Tennessee were a pleasant surprise. In spite of the genre, I'm giving it 2/5.

Feel that you need a lot of background to understand the message for hiphop bands. Anyway, like the way that the lyrics are treated. Went to wikipedia and found this about the band Arrested Development is an American hip hop group that formed in Atlanta in 1988. It was founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the late 1980s. Baba Oje and frontman Speech met at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee when they were both students. Baba Oje was 57 years old at the time. About africanism Afrocentrism is an approach to the study of world history that focuses on the history of people of recent African descent. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their historical contributions. It seeks to counter what it sees as mistakes and ideas perpetuated by the racist philosophical underpinnings of Western academic disciplines as they developed during and since Europe's Early Renaissance as justifying rationales for the enslavement of other peoples, in order to enable more accurate accounts of not only African but all people's contributions to world history. Afrocentricity deals primarily with self-determination and African agency and is a Pan-African point of view for the study of culture, philosophy, and history.

I should start declaring that Rap is not my kind of music. Having said that, the album does not like me. I just appreciate positively some rhythmic basses.

It's fine I guess. It just doesn't feel like an essential album to me. I like the live instrumentation and there's some solid messages to be found here but it ultimately just feels average at best. For fanatics of early 90's hip hop only.

I can see why this album and its singles were popular at the time of release but it sounds incredibly dated by today's standards. It's not that the overall message is bad per se, but the delivery from Speech and the 90s production don't do enough beyond the cliché. In fact, the deeper message is surprisingly hateful toward black people who don't agree with his message, so it becomes an odd listen. This is not something I would ever return to.

Dull other than Mr Wendal. Didn't pay much attention to the lyrics but go the impression they were going on about god a lot which put me off.

Look it's pretty good for a hiphop album, but man, i just do not enjoy hiphop

Just ok, but not really my type of thing. 2

Not as interesting as I'd hoped, not as much of a party album to make it fun.

Got bored, it all sounds much too similar all the way through. Well, at least as far through as I got.

I'm doing my best to care, but I just don't. I read a little about Arrested Development (which I knew nothing about) and it sounds like they tried to be a counterpoint to the gangsta rap happening at the same time. Fine. But some of those more "aggressive" rap/hip hop artists had something valuable to say. This reminds me of DC talk making a different record for every genre to try and steer teens away from the rap, grunge, etc. paths on sin. That is such a cynical move - to assume that people are listening to a specific type of music solely for the sonic touchstones or "image" of the artist. In this case, making "rap" more palatable to the suburban Karen/Ken demographic, which produces these results...

I was excited to listen to this album because I remember really liking Tennessee and Mr. Wendell growing up. Turns out, my excitement was mostly for nostalgic reasons. I mean, the reggae/rap sound is fun. The motivational, Christian, political vibe is fine with me. But, the album didn't age well. Mr. Wendell is still a good song, and I'll give them a small bump because my over-excitedness is partially responsible for my disappointment.

Very similar to a electronic album: beats that don't amaze paired together with redundant lyrics. Obsolete album altogether

04/10/2022 Kinda annoying after a while... welp.

Monotone

It was OK, but it didn't do it. I thought the production was all over the place tbh

Ik houdt niet zo van rap, maar dit album heeft wel wat geinige melodie'tjes oftewel beats. Het is dan ook geen hardcore rap, maar wat meer commercieel in mijn ogen. **

not for me

Nada especial

Was a fun listen, but didn't really capture my attention.

Veritable Hits und recht zappelige Sozialkritik im recht papierdünnem Gewand 2.3

2.5

Before Outkast came onto the scene to popularize southern hip-hop, there was Arrested Development. They formed in 1988, with "Speech" MCing and "Headliner" on turntables, and did performances in hopes to get signed. This took a little over 3 years. 3 years, 5 months, and 2 days to be exact.... This album is worth passing. Even with it's southern hip hop roots and high energy, the album bored me. Most everything on here feels flat and uninteresting.

This album is all over the place. Some parts profound, some parts very Captain Planet, other parts just really awkward. Perhaps this is just what early 90s hiphop/rap was going to be. However, there's a major theme of empowerment and a very healthy dose of political discourse as heard in "Give A Man A Fish", an even-handed critique of the welfare system not including education that would reduce its own version of recidivism. Spiritual references, Christian, Humanist, New Age, while looking for common grounds, sort of dampens the credibility of those with its respective followers. However, this album simultaneously criticizes the empty rhetoric of Baptist churches (profound, as it is a foundational element for AD apparently) and the lackadaisical view of the Baptist church by the US government in "Fishin' 4 Religion". Again, the album seemed all over the place but it has an enjoyable pace, a bright demeanor and at times some difficult commentary that are in fact worth hearing, agreed or not. If artists have a platform to stir the pot, provoke discourse, Arrested Development may have done a fine job and for many listeners, could be what they are looking for.

Dear Mr Wendel, I still don't understand why this list keeps serving me hip hop, I can't stand the genre

Nice, reminds me of Avalanches. 3 Wtf is washed away Not a lot of content imo 2

Literally never heard of Arrested Development at all. Kind of cool mix of hip hop genres and makes for ok background listening but I can't see myself ever revisiting it.

Too 1992.

For a style of music I like, this was really not enjoyable.

Un altre (i van...) dels suposats grans clàssics del hip hop que va deixant anar el seu minutatge sense pena ni glòria. 'Mr. Wendal' és una gran cançó, poc dubte hi ha... però la resta hip hop amatxambrat amb jazz, funk, reggae... interessant, però definitivament no essencial

Not bad

Det ska erkännas att detta var en konstig lyssning och därav kanske inte en otroligt accurate review. Jag lyssnade igenom det här albumet i flera sittningar med relativt stora mellanrum och känner att jag inte har suget att dra en riktigt genomlyssning igen. Men den känsla jag trots det ändå har är att det var ganska nice. Vissa gånger jag tar mig in i genren hip-hop så kommer vi inte överens på någon punkt alls. Denna gång kunde vi ändå föra en diskussion, det var inte bara folk som pratade fort i mina öron medan jag inte brydde mig. Jag har absolut ingenting emot att dra igång Arrested Development men om jag känner mig själv så är det heller inget som kommer slås igång igen.

Ended up getting bored. Not the worst but won’t listen again

90-talshiphop. Ok

I remember these guys had a few hits when I was a kid, was pretty harmless rap/rnb. Ok yep still is. I've heard both better and worse, no strong feelings. It does go way too long though, and some of the lyrics are pretty cringey. 2/5.

Just not my thing.

First listen. 2/5.

Bouarf

Larga larga racha de hip-hop. Alguna vez hace mucho llegué a escuchar el nombre del grupo, incluso llegué a ver a su cantante (Speech) y me pareció alguien técnicamente bueno. Aparte de racha de hip-hop seguimos con esa corriente medio politicoide que trata de crear consciencia y alejarse de lo vacío del género. En este caso por un lado me parece que tengo que darle debido crédito; porque sea no no el primero en hablar de este tipo de temas, sin duda para 1991 no había casi nadie que lo hiciera y mucho menos nadie que llegara al alcance comercial que me parece tuvieron en su momento. El estilo musical no es malo; quizá no es mi máximo pero es bueno, la rima no es la cosa más compleja, los ritmos todavía medio arrastrados ochenteros pero sí con la introducción de cosas más africanas y me agrada que incluso de manera musical trata de tener una identidad. “Mr. Wendal”, “Man’s Final Frontier” y “Fishin’ 4 Religion” me parecen canciones bastante decentes. Mi problema es que aquí se llega a un nivel de sermoneo moralista gigante. Aquí si se sienten demasiado exageradas las ideas que quiere expresar, sí pensaba que se oía cursi partes de Like Water for Chocolate este se lo lleva de calle. No solo termina siendo sermón moralista épico sino que también siento que peca mucho en no poner atención o simplemente no pensar lo que se puso en el papel y termina incluso en casos sintiéndose hipócrita. No tiene sentido que en una canción digas “but he wouldn’t stop and I ain’t Ice Cube | but I had to take the brother out for being rude | and like I said before I was mad by then | It took three or four cops to pull me off of him” y al final de la misma canción salgas con que “The moral of the story is You better look very hard on who you step into | As you might get killed or shot and it’s not worth | Africans need to be loving each other and you know” O sea... no en todo caso tu moraleja de la historia era que aun cuando no queremos a veces la situación nos exige hacer cosas indeseables si quieres, pero ahora resulta que añades eso y te subes a un piso moral superior a todos nosotros a sermonear. Mientras tanto en el mismo disco donde la mitad hablas de amor y todos debemos ser superamigos tienes una canción que habla de una revolución con AK 47s y 9mm de pobres contra ricos... y tu punto de unión es... que se unen pobres blancos y negros a matar ricos? Para ser un grupo que supuestamente (y hasta el día de hoy) siempre ha intentado ser sobre el amor y respeto tiene letras hasta hipocritonas. Me dio mucha curiosidad escuchar el disco cuando vi que salió y aunque hubo cosas que disfruté el concepto moralista y la manera de implementarlo fueron demasiado para mí. Por un lado te satura con "ama a tu prójimo" a un nivel de ridiculez y por otro tiene versos que contradicen lo que acaba de poner. El mensaje termina entre cursi/vacío y borroso.

This is...weird. There's not a lot more I can say. It doesn't quite click with me.

nao gostei mt nao

Not really my cup of tea...

I enjoyed aspects of this album, it has very poignant meaning which also feels so relevant in today's world, but as an entire album I am not sure its for me. It reminded me of the Donald Glover stand up skit about old rap and buying a hat

La copertina prometteva bene e anche l'inizio però ho perso interesse quasi subito. Questo stile vocale non mi è mai piaciuto, l'arrangiamento e la forma dei brani sono troppo confusionari. Alcune buone idee ma non è un disco che riascolterò.

Faszinierend, aber sehr anstrengend!