Debut album for the southern hip-hop group Arrested Development, composed of the main MC Speech, DJ Headliner, and half a dozen background singers along with some musicians. The record marks the hip-hop scene alternative to gangsta rap, sub-genre that is strongly emerging in this period, with curious socio-conscious themes seen from the perspective of a musical group from Atlanta, Georgia.
From a certain point of view, the sound is innovative and new, the group mixes different musical genres together, including blues, gospel, jazzy, rnb, hip-hop, funky and reggae. Todd "Speech" Thomas' chosen lyricism deals with topics such as racism, Christianity, Afrocentrism, feminism, pro-black and wandering, all of which, at the end of listening, turn out to be far too complex for the simplistic mind of this guy: he don't manages to get his message across and, moreover, he formulates his bars so badly that some of his thoughts risk passing for anti-black and racist. It's supposed to be one of the best alt rap albums, but there always seems to be an incompetent in rapping, keyboards and mixing. The constant presence of wacky beats from the first song doesn't help, the drum is simple, bare and syncopated and there are functional hooks in each track to help the lead rapper's technically poor delivery style.
It's a coincidence when Speech guesses rhythm and pop-soul hook, bringing out the best cut of the album "Tennessee", also chosen as the first single of the LP. The album, whose title is based on the exact time it took for the group to obtain a record deal (Chrysalis / EMI), is a great commercial success, achieving platinum certifications in the USA (4), Canada (2), Australia and the UK, and coming in the top 10 in the States and charting third in the UK.
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