Arrested Development

Tonight is a special treat, Arrested Development. Unbeknownst to Lindsay, i don't mean the TV show. Don't get me wrong, it was quite a good show, but i'm for lack of a better term a curmudgeonly music critic. Forget Michael and George Michael, let's hear Speech and Baba Oje and the rest of the crew talk about why problems got them pessimistic. Maybe not literally 99 of them like JAY-Z, they are the positive conscious alternative to Gangsta Rap, after all. Tangent: I have Snoop Dog's debut album in the Folder of Doom, but the story arc just isn't giving me a good entry point. So, G-Funk on the back burner, the representatives from Tennessee have the floor (they're actually from Atlanta, but the song's not called "Georgia," Coincidence isn't omnipotent. Regardless, oblique Green Day reference for those who still have their Bottle Bingo cards at the ready). 

3 Years 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of... a band that spent that exact amount of time trying to get a record deal. Not too bad actually, considering Southern Hip-Hop hadn't blown up yet because it took them 3 years, 5 months, and 2 days to be in a position to help make that happen. They formed in '88, and recorded this in '92, Bottle math says close enough to accept it as true. 

So, there's a standard critical summary of the group, and it goes like this: 

That first album is phenomenal, but there's this faint aftertaste of preachiness we're not fond of... they did an Unplugged, we don't really count that one way or the other... oooh, the preachtentiousness of that second album is too much, put 'em back in the cacoon (Chrysalis was their label, get it?) They made quite a few more albums for EMI after Chrysalis let them go, but their mainstream career was completely over in 2 years. I have that first album though, let's give it a spin. 

Golden Age Hip-Hop has a truly wonderful structure, and it comes from the interludes, they literally put the songs in a real-life context, a group of people/friends/enemies actually interacting with the world around them. For an unashamed Mundaninite like myself, that's delicious no matter what you're actually talking about. In this case, it's all about how they feel like they have to fight the whole world just to be their best selves. 

Some people are going to press play and immediately key in on the antagonism between Afro- and Euro-centrism, some people will find this album really dated, some people will actually get angry. From a certain perspective, this album is incredibly confrontational, not too keen on the Southern Baptist mentality. On the other hand, of course it's confrontational, social critique is an integral part of all Hip-Hop. Plus, i metaphorically threatened all of you with a shovel yesterday, so i have no argue. I listen to it and ask myself "can i relate to how i think they feel, and what they are trying to say?" Yep, absolutely. Not the same circumstances or scenarios, obviously, but similar underlying dynamics at play for sure. Stop blindly coping with the horrible, and actually try to change things for the better, or as i like to say, get up and actually do do it. 

They aren't getting all Diogenes on you by saying Mr. Wendel is a better human in the eyes of whatever God is, it's more like Michael Stipe examining the values of the bums down they alley, and recognizing that we are often extremely wasteful instead of generous. If you're only going to eat half that sandwich anyway, maybe try sharing it instead of being disgusted when he fishes it back out of the trash can because he's homeless and starving. They're really just saying they feel like actual people are more valuable than the name of the college on your resume. I have no argue with that one either, i'm just dangling from the cliff on only 3 or 4 fingers. 

Increased attention to spiritual stuffy, stuff? That one's not gonna do it for me, i think the Absurd is as real as it gets, but we don't have to agree on the whys when we clearly agree on the whatsits. I don't mind the rain at all unless it's a euphemism for bullets. I like to think that I am also everyday people, and we definitely don't like being shot and murdered and having our girlfriends harrassed or assaulted. What's that stupid joke? Punch a pacifist hard enough and he'll find out he's not actually a pacifist? Something like that. Not important. 

What is important is that this is actually a fantastic album. The old-school, happy drums and scratch and sniff turntables might feel a bit corny for us who lived through the era of Grime and feel trapped in the trap of Trap and gloom, but if you remember that what we're really trying to do is stand up for peace and love and self-respect in the face of a world that sneers at that, it's not hard to get back into that 80s mindset of party with a purpose. As Ella Eyre reminds us, we don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time. Especially considering we're trying to support women who chose to keep their babies like Madonna did and raise those future Kings in the knowledge that community love and support is what really matters. I'll second that emotion (Smoky Robinson? This review might be more allusion than content). 

Anywho, on the next Arrested Development, Aerlee Taree challenges Headliner to a game of horseshoes, A GAME OF HORSESHOOOOOES!