You probably haven’t heard of Arrested Development (no I’m not talking about the popular Fox TV show). They’re an alternative hip-hop group, who according to their lead singer, Speech, are influenced by soul, funk, reggae and blues.  The group were destined for big things when they won two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1993. They were tremendously popular in the early 90s, selling 5 million copies of their first album 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of... which featured songs such as 'Tennessee' and 'Mr Wendal'. A year later, they were even named band of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. It seems strange, then, that the majority of music-loving people our age haven’t heard of them. The huge professional success which may have seemed to be written in the stars for this band at the time never really materialised. Many people have written them off as another example of a failed potentiality. I don’t think this is fair, because, after listening to their music and having spoken with the lead singer, Speech, it is palpably clear that their mission to engage people with many of the social issues plaguing western society through the medium of melody, is really something which is worth your time.  

I meet Speech at the Junction, where the band is setting up to play later that day. After a slightly awkward introductory fist-pump, we lounge back in the chairs of the dressing room. 'Tennessee' and 'Mr Wendal' are both songs which connect with social issues; the former addresses feelings of loss and the history of black men and women in Southern America whilst the latter looks at the plight of the homeless. Did they start their band on the premise of seeking to educate people about these issues? “We started the group because we saw the state of black people throughout the world in a state of arrested development. We wanted to make music that changed that state of arrested development to development. We wanted to be part of the solution… we wanted to put our hand to the shovel and start working.”

Recently Azealia Banks openly criticised the music industry for favouring white artists such as Iggy Azalea and Macklemore over African Americans in an interview with the radio show, Hot 97. This is something that particularly offends Banks in the realm of Hip-hop, which descends from the African-American culture. Speech choose the name 'Arrested Development' for his band due to his perceived need for the African American community to have a spiritual rebirth. With that in mind, do these comments emanating from a young and talented Banks strike a chord with him? “There is still that need for rebirth and there has been some progress… Black peoples’ experience, gosh, only a hundred and fifty years ago we were still in slavery in the U.S… the effects of that damage and victimisation has been lasting till this very day… I mean Macklemore says it, he understands that he has white privilege and he understands that there is such a thing as white privilege. I think what pisses black people off is when whites deny it. I think that pisses anybody off". He adds, "when you understand it exists, and it’s not your fault" there needs to be "a certain kind of compassion and consideration". Contemplating the issue of privilege, Speech notes "there’s [also] male privilege… there are a lot of different kinds of privilege”.

The messages being pedalled in Arrested Development’s music always seems to come from a place of optimism even though they tackle issues which can be “daunting”, “we have a choice in life, all of us: optimism or pessimism. I choose optimism”. “I’m always about self-determination. I don’t believe blacks are no way near smart enough, powerful enough, amazing enough to do what we gotta’ do. It’s time for the message to get out there. And that’s where Arrested Development comes in. I’m a musician not a politician” so he feels it his role to “pick up the shovel” and sing because “there are a lot of problems. They are real. They are there. They have real effects.”

It would seem, however, that optimism in hip-hop isn’t always the norm. Songs pertaining to the Hip-hop genre tend to be dominated with messages of male bravado and testaments to the material benefits of success: big cars, shiny watches as well as the more sinister and occasionally sexist images of raw sexual desire. You only have to read the lyrics of eloquently entitled song 'I want to fuck you' by Akon to understand what I mean. Why is this?  Speech talks openly about the state of the music industry today which is dominated by large corporate entities who “own almost all the stations throughout the country” and make decisions about what music is “hot” and most likely to sell to the audience. Hip-hop has a propensity to focus on these negative and “dangerous” messages because they sell well. Speech elucidates his point by saying people enjoy songs about “pimps” and “drugs” because “it's fun”. It’s only fun and “cool” to them because they aren’t “actually living in that situation”. It is important to remember that “along with the pimps go women who are being pimped at young ages. Along with the drugs go the drugs users and the addicts who are in these families and their uncle and their aunt and their mother who is on crack”. Speech talks with passion when he poignantly remarks, “to one group of people, unfortunately, its just entertainment... but yet to another group of people it’s their life.” This kind of music is “dangerous” because even though it doesn’t have any direct bearing on the majority of the public who will listen to these lyrics, for the people living in those communities, “it causes havoc”: “It’s not like young girls are being raped because of song after song being like ‘I’ll slap that hoe, I don’t give a fuck about that hoe’ and all that… but if that keeps being said, then the little girl whose being raised in this community... that’s her own self-image and it’s also the self-image of the little boy of the little girl.”

Due to the popularity of this music, the messages are being franchised: “it’s basically like... canned food that is shipped out to everybody”. Now there is “less diversity of thought and opinion, of what should be hot, what’s good”. This was not always the case, however. Speech reminisces about the time when “in every city there was a DJ, a real person, a human being who loved something for real and had the power to play what they loved and they could ‘break a record’”. This used to be the “strength” of the music industry and it’s what enabled the rise of bands like the Beatles whose songs “didn’t have a hook until four minutes into the song”.

I broach the subject of the failure of the band to really ‘take-off’ in the conventional sense with tentativeness. He reflects on the nature of American society, which he says is based on the premise “of buying things”, where you are encouraged to go out “and buy the next product… It is capitalism at its best”. With that in mind, “when you have music that’s taking about messages… it doesn’t mix well with the next product that’s being pushed to you. So have a Coke and smile doesn’t mix well with ‘there are people dying out there’”.  

Arrested Development are touring the UK.