1. History

2. Personnel

3. Discography
    Albums  Compilations  Singles 

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

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.

History

Arrested Development was formed in 1988 by rapper and producer Todd Thomas ("Speech") and turntablist Timothy Barnwell ("Headliner"). The group's debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..., was the number-one album in the Village Voice{{'}}s 1992 Pazz and Jop Critic's Poll^[1] and in The Wire{{'}}s 1992 Critic's choice.^[2] The group won two Grammy Awards in 1993 for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, and were also named Band of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. The debut album sold over 6 million copies worldwide and greatly influenced acts such as The Black Eyed Peas and The Fugees opening up doors for them.

“Arrested Development took the light, funky sound of the Native Tongues school of hip-hop (De La Soul, Queen Latifah), blended in the folk-blues instrumentation of the their native South (harmonica, acoustic guitars), added uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics and became one of the most successful crossover acts in rap.”

A few months later, the group was approached by film director Spike Lee, to compose a song for his upcoming biopic based on the life of Malcolm X. The group then recorded "Revolution", which appeared on the oldies-dominated soundtrack for the film, as well as the second half of its closing credits when the film was released in 1992.

Their 1994 follow-up Zingalamaduni, although Grammy nominated and critically acclaimed wasn't as successful and sold poorly due to restructuring of the record label personnel and severe lack of promotion. After the group broke up due to "creative differences" in 1996, Speech released a solo album which shot up the charts in Japan. The group reunited in 2000 and has been touring and releasing records via Speech's Vagabond Productions and Speech Music. Aerle Taree didn't return to Arrested Development because of vocal problems and DJ Headliner refused to rejoin the band due to business differences between himself and Speech.^[3] Today Aerle is a poet and converted from Buddhism to Christianity.^[4] DJ Headliner has since gone on to start his own business called Creative Royalty Group.^[5] In 2010 Baba Oje had a stroke.^[6]

Dionne Farris contributed guest vocals on "Tennessee" and toured with the band however was never actually a member.

Baba Oje is the group's spiritual elder. He and Speech met at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee when they were both students. Baba Oje was 57 years old at the time.

In November 2003, the group sued the Fox network over the name of the TV show Arrested Development.^[7] The suit is referenced in the Arrested Development episodes "Public Relations", "Motherboy XXX", "Sword of Destiny", and "For British Eyes Only".

In June 2005, the group won the first round of NBC's television series contest Hit Me, Baby, One More Time, performing "Tennessee" and covering Los Lonely Boys' "Heaven" and donated the $20,000 proceeds to UNICEF.

The group's follow-up to their 2004 Among The Trees was Since The Last Time, released internationally (not in the U.S.) on September 18, 2006. Since The Last Time was later released in the United States on October 30, 2007, on Vagabond Record & Tapes, Speech's boutique label.

In March 2007, they toured Australia as part of a triple-bill, along with Simple Minds and INXS.

In 2008, Arrested Development teamed up with The Black Eyed Peas and performed at The Concert for Peace in Jerusalem, Israel to promote peace among Palestinians and Jews.

In 2010 the group released their ninth album Strong under Vagabond Records and Tapes, and licensed to the Japanese record label Cutting Edge, on December 9, 2009, and had a top ten hit with the single "The World is Changing" in Japan. In an interview with Songfacts, Speech explained that the track "Greener" takes on the issue of climate change from the perspective of the African American community.^[8]

On January 8, 2011, they with Emmylou Harris performed at the festival first night of the Sydney Festival in Sydney, Australia to 50,000 people.

In August 2012, the group released its 10th album Standing At The Crossroads, recorded while touring internationally. The album, given away for free from the group's official website, took a lo-fi approach and was recorded entirely on a Mac laptop.^[9] The same month they announced a new tour throughout the United States and Australia to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

On October 9, 2016, Arrested Development performed at the Delicious Festival in South Africa. A line up that included The Jacksons, Macy Gray, De La Soul, Elements of Life, Roy Ayers and local food celebrities Reuben Riffel, Sarah Graham. The next day members of Arrested Development drove out to Soweto and as usual encouraged many children at an orphanage then paid homage to Nelson Mandela at the location of his home.

In January 2018, Arrested Development performed on the Trumpet Awards television show to a viewership of 2.6 million people.

In May 2018, Sam Bathrick’s transformative film 16 Bars premiered at the Docland's Film Festival. Todd “Speech” Thomas of activist hip-hop group Arrested Development works in a unique rehabilitation program in Richmond, Virginia, to help prisoners write and record their own songs. The film focuses on four inmates who battle cycles of incarceration and addiction. a documentary starring Speech made premiered at the Docland's Film Festival and quickly won audience choice.

Baba Oje died of leukemia on October 26, 2018. His age is reported to be 86–87.^[9][10]

In 2018 Arrested Development released their most recent album Craft & Optics.^[11]

Also in 2018 Speech produced and launched a docu-series called The Nigga Factory ^[12]

Personnel

Members

• Speech - Lead Vocals (1988–1996, 2000–present)
• Rasa Don - Drums (1990–2006)
• Montsho Eshe - Dancer/Choreographer (1990–1996, 2000–present)
• Isaiah 'Za' Williams III - Bass (2008–present)
• One Love - Vocals (2008–present)
• Jason "JJ Boogie" Reichert - Guitarist, Mix engineer & Producer (1998–present)
• Tasha Larae - Vocals (2008–present)
• Fareedah Aleem - Vocals, Dance & Choreography (2004-present)

Former Members

• Headliner - Turntables (1988–1996)
• Aerle Taree - Vocals/Stylist (1990–1996)
• Baba Oje - Spiritual Elder (1990–1996, 2000–2018; his death)
• Foley - Bass (1994–1996)
• Ajile - Vocals (1994–1995)
• Kwesi Asuo - Vocals (1994–1996)
• Nadirah Shakoor - Vocals (1994–1996)
• Nicha Hilliard - Vocals/Dancer (1996–2008)
• Kamaal Malak - (1994-1996)

Discography

Albums

Compilations

• 1998: Best of Arrested Development
• 2001: Greatest Hits

Singles

See also

• List of number-one R&B hits (United States)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References

External links

• Arrested Development
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722121049/http://www.avexnet.or.jp/arrested/index.html Arrested Development Japan]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100828073514/http://www.aerletaree.com/ Aerle Taree]
• Radio Interview. Dec 2006 – 3SYN 90.7FM Melbourne, Australia
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929082017/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=82268 Arrested Development video interview at allaboutjazz.com]

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