Don't Fight Your Demons Review

Arrested Development, Don't Fight Your Demons

After giving the new release by Arrested Development one last listen before writing this, I realized that I was trying to complicate something that was actually simple. (Ain't that how it goes, though?) Once the last track, "The Forsaken," came to a close, I turned away from my laptop had one very clear thought: 

Well, that's an album.

Yeah, of course it is, you might have said if you were there to hear my thought with me. What the hell else would it be?

You're right, I might say back. I should probably clarify.

And this is where is I complicate everything by explaining. So here goes. 

Don't Fight Your Demons is an album the way they used to make 'em. A Tribe Called Quest. De la Soul. Public Enemy. Eric B and Rakim, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, and the Beastie Boys. And yes, Arrested Development.

(I mean, Public Enemy just proved they still make 'em that way, but that's a whole other topic.)

Don't Fight Your Demons is an album, man. Each song belongs sequenced next to the one that follows it, a piece of a greater whole. Themes are carried throughout the record, some of which go all the way back to the first album--aging, fighting for your place in the world and wondering sometimes if that world even has a place for you, reflections on the past, racism, the role of art. Dialogue is spliced in from various sources to add or clarify these themes, and guest rappers/artists add to the whole rather than subtract, which is too often the case in modern rap.* 

Like I said, an album the way used to make 'em. And still can when someone is willing, the way Arrested Development and their producers Configa (seven songs), Cris Acosta (four songs), and MRK SX (one song) were. (Speech himself serves as producer or co-producer on the bulk of the songs as well.) 

There are many shining moments, and some songs that I like more than others at the moment (subject to change, but right now "Becoming," "Young Americans," "The Same People," "Do or Die the Mantra," "We'll See," and "The Forsaken" are at the top of my list), but the most surprising moment to me remains the first single, "Becoming." In the song, Speech bares hard truths from his childhood. As someone who has listened to and followed Speech from literally the beginning of his major label career, I had no idea about the abuse he experienced as a child from someone who was dating his mother (despite the album's title, it appears that Speech decided to wrestle with his demons a little after all). 40-year old me wanted to reach out and help young Speech during the first verse, knowing I was helpless to do so.

And yet, in the mystifying ways of art, the song is catchy as hell. Speech is spilling his guts of trauma and here I sit, bobbing my head.

Now if you have followed Arrested Development for any time, you might take notice of a few things...or said better, you might notice some things that are missing. While I do not have the full credits at hand, just what's on Tidal, other than 1 Love, the appearance of the rest of the group is either minimal or non-existent. And while I missed them, Arrested Development was always intended to be a fluid concept, with members coming and going and directions constantly changing. So, this is just another execution of that concept, though I do hope we will again hear from the rest of the crew again.

All in all, longtime AD fans will enjoy Don't Fight Your Demons, and judging by the reactions on Twitter, it appears that people who haven't played an AD album since the debut are also loving it. With the release of this as well as new sets from Public Enemy and Paris, September 25, 2020 became sort of an official holiday for old school heads, and I'm glad to say that Don't Fight Your Demons absolutely lived up to the hype. Believe it.

*This is not a "get off my lawn" sentiment, but just a reality of the typical role of the guest rapper today.