All School Sessions Celebrates AD Anniversary

Check it out, Lord Kel celebrates the 20th anniversary of 3 Years on his radio show All School Sessions with songs from that album, a few live AD cuts from the album, and even a cut from Gumbo, as well as other great hip hop tracks.  I'd recommend checking this show out every few days for Kel's latest episodes as he plays a lot of good stuff.  Enjoy!

Great "3 Years" Post

The author TL posted this in the comments section on a prior post, but I wanted to give it a bit more shine than that.  Here is an excellent write-up with one person's thoughts on "3 Years" from a blog called Flashlights Are Something To Eat.  Really cool to see a personal post like this!  Check it out here.  Really good stuff here!

Must Read AD Update

Arrested Development recently posted an update on their future plans, and they are all very exciting.  I'd recommend clicking the link, but in summary the following projects are in the works:

"Bring That Beat Back" a free album consisting of many of the songs that were recorded around the time of the "Living" single.  Interestingly, Public Enemy had a remix album with that title.  This will be more of a classic hip hop sounding record, which is intriguing. 

"Premium Blend" a Speech collaboration with Japanese group the Yoshida Brothers.  This will be an EP and had been mentioned by Speech in my interview with him.

"1 Love" a collaboration album between AD members Speech and One Love.  Very interesting.

"20" the long awaited next full AD album.

And if that's not enough they casually mention Speech has another solo album in the works.  So plenty to look forward to this year from the group.

20 Years, 0 Months, O Days in the Life of....

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the release of "3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..." the debut album of Arrested Development.  If my calculus is up to speed, this means it's been 23 years, 5 months and 2 days since the group decided to pursue a record deal.

I would be lying if I said I bought it on release date.  As I recall, I picked it up some time in late July or early August.  I spent a lot of time mowing lawns that summer, and I picked up albums from artists like their fellow Atlanteans Kris Kross, Heavy D, and Black Sheep before I bought this one. (It was supposed to be the "clean version" of A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, and a few of the raunchier songs were excised, but what was left was still very much explicit.  Don't tell my mom.)  But this is the one I still turn to, even today, nothing against those other albums. 

This album had such an effect on me that I still remember how the paper in the cassette liner smelled.  To me, it kind of smelled like a corn chip, a bit of an organic scent that fit in perfectly with the contents of the cassette.

I spent a lot of time on the couch at night watching "Yo! MTV Raps" back in the days when the M stood for music, and it was an educational experience.  Songs by Public Enemy, EPMD, Redman, Das EFX, Heavy D, 2Pac, and many others were in heavy rotation and I absorbed them all like a sponge.  Much like Eminem stated on record a few years back, the X-Clan used to scare me too.  But the videos for "Tennessee," "People Everyday", and "Mr. Wendal" still stick out today, engrained in my mind.

I think one of the more underrated elements of this album are the love songs, so to speak.  "U", "Natural", and "Dawn of the Dreads" are still to this day such a more advanced treatment of woman than almost anything done since.  "Mama's Always on Stage" will always hold relevancy.  Just incredible pieces of work.  One of the criticisms of the work of Public Enemy- and it is a valid one, though I know of no group that can be all things to all people- is their portrayal of woman and Arrested Development really knocked that out of the mark in my male eyes.    

Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this, I just wanted to kind of free flow a few thoughts on this album, one of my all-time favorite albums and proof that hip hop can be and is so much more than that deplorable "Rack City" song I heard for the first time yesterday. 

Congrats to Arrested Development for a piece of work that has stood strong for twenty solid years, and I eagerly await what's next for the group.  Also, keep your eyes on the All School Sessions radio show as Lord Kel plans on paying tribute to the album on his radio show soon.

Hip Hop Gods Radio

If you get a chance check out Hip Hop Gods on Rapstation radio tonight as they are going to have a tribute to "Three Years" on it's twenty-year anniversary.

A Different Rap

Here's a fun and interesting look back at an article from 1993 on Arrested Development from Ebony Magazine.  Reading the following quote made me wonder when the term "conscious" rap made it on the scene and if this use of the term by Speech pre-dated that:

What distinguishes Arrested Development from other rap groups is their positive, family-oriented themes, a welcome departure from the misogynistic and violent lyrics of controversial hard-core rap acts. "We call ourselves a conscious hip-hop group. Conscious basically meaning trying to be aware of what we can change," says Speech, Arrested Development's charismatic lead singer, rapper and producers,who smiles frequently and gives friendly hugs to everybody, males and females.

Unsung

Some cool news- Arrested Development recently tweeted that they are going to be the focus of an upcoming episode of the show called Unsung, which is similar to Behind the Music on VH1.  The show airs on TV One.  It's good news/bad news in a way, because they pick out acts that were huge and suffered a drastic loss in popularity.  I would love to see this show when it airs.

Hat tip to Kel for telling me about this! 

Also, it sounds like they are still in the process of recording new music for new projects, so there should be plenty to talk about down the road.