Arrested Development

Arrested Development is a progressive hip-hop group, founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the early 1990s.

It took the group thr

Arrested Development is a progressive hip-hop group, founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the early 1990s.

It took the group three years, five months and two days to be offered a record deal. Hence the name of the first album was 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..., which produced several hit tracks. These included "Tennessee", "People Everyday", and "Mr. Wendal", which hit the top ten. The group won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and Best New Artist, and were also Band of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. Their follow-up was 1994's Zingalamaduni, which did very well with some critics but was panned by many others, and the album sold poorly. After the group broke up in 1996, Speech released a solo album, but sales were poor. The group reunited in 2000 (sans Headliner) and has been touring and releasing records via Speech's Vagabond Productions and Speech Music. While Arrested Development has struggled to regain a following in the U.S., they have met moderate, consistent success in Japan.