Arrested Development Awarded at the 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Quote
"Got to get political. . . . this government needs to be overthrown; brothers with their AK's and their 9 mm's need to learn how to correctly shoot them; save those rounds for a revolution; poor whites and blacks bumrushing the system. . . . you say you want out of the ghetto; first the political prisoners must be let go. . . . raise your fist, but also raise your children, so when you die the movement moves on. . . . direct your anger. . . . love your life; tackle the government";
"Give a Man a Fish"; 3 Years--5 months--and 2 Days in the Life of, Arrested Development, 1992, Chrysalis Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.

Article
      Arrested Development was awarded February 1993 for being the "Best New Artist" and for having the "Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group" for its single "Tennessee." Arrested Development would not be classified as a "gangsta" rap group because the group does not dignify gangbanging when it is black-on-black. The group performs black identity lyrics that support black nationalism and that push for violent revolution.

      On the 1992 album that includes the song "Tennessee," black identity is described with phrases like the following: "it's like a black thing;" "black queen;" US born "African women;" "I am black and proud;" "brothers and sisters keep messin' up;" and US born "African boys and girls" should not live "100% European" in America. (The last quote is from "Children Play with Earth.")

      The group says that historical slavery puts into question whether or not present day America is civilized. (From "Mr Wendal.") An offshoot from Nation of Islam is a group of blacks known as 5 Percent Nation. Arrested Development tells listeners about such blacks: "brothers talking revolution. . . . brothers wear yo' black clothes; talk yo' 5% talk." Arrested Development calls the "5% talk. . . . words of wisdom." (From "Mama's Always on Stage.")

      The group fantasizes that poor whites will join blacks in black nationalism to overthrow the government: "got to get political. . . . so this government needs to be overthrown; brothers with their A.K.'s and their 9 mm's need to learn how to correctly shoot them; save those rounds for a revolution; poor whites and blacks bumrushing the system." ("Give a Man a Fish.")

      "The rain enhances the revolution," they say, because it "mentally" rinses blacks of an "old vision," allowing them to grasp a "new vision." "It's raining solution. . . . spiritual solution . . . unnatural, supernatural solution; it's raining revolution." ("Raining Revolution.")

      The problem with Baptist churches, we learn, is that blacks learn to be passive there rather than to join "brothers and sisters in a revolution." ("Fishin for Religion.")

      It is common for violently racist rappers to say that blacks must stop self-destructive behavior in order that blacks may build up strength to violently overthrow the government. For examples, two of the above quotations will be extended. "Brothers talking revolution, but leave their babies behind" when they should "nurture another mind before" theirs expire in order to make "a conscious baby for the black resistance." Also, the following is said: "brothers. . . . talk your 5% talk" but "words of wisdom should be ways of wisdom." ("Mama's Always on Stage.")

      Rather than saying all killing is wrong, the rapper narrows his concerns to black-on-black killing as follows: "I don't like killing Africans." Additionally, US born "Africans need to be loving each other and unite." ("People Everyday.")

      Arrested Development released another CD in 1992, and it was titled "Revolution." The rappers dedicated the CD to any black ancestors who were raped, hung, or killed. Containing only five tracks, the first three have nearly identical versions of the song called "Revolution," which was used on the soundtrack for the movie Malcolm X, a movie that director Spike Lee used as a vehicle to threaten race war. (Further explanation about how Spike Lee used the movie to threaten race war is contained in the following link: Spike Lee's Malcolm X.) In the song the rappers say that they are inspired by Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, the MOVE organization, David Walker, the Black Panthers, Kwame Nkrumah, Jane Pitman, and Malcolm X.

      It is significant that the rappers put the song's context into current times, rather than into the 1960's when Malcolm X was alive, and in doing so, Arrested Development is saying that Malcolm X's threats for a violent racial revolution were "worthy" not only then, but are still "worthy" today. Arrested Development says that "even today in 1992, we are still fired up, and we're still talking about revolution." The rappers chant the call for "revolution" over fifty times on the song, and they threaten that blacks will get guns and run around if whites refuse to "understand [their] situation" and instead invest the US resources into solving the problems in "Bosnia." The only reference to Malcolm X is to a militant speech he made before his so-called reform to non-extremism. "It's either 'The Ballot or The Bullet,'" the rappers say, "come now, revolution."

      Two years later, Arrested Development put out more of the same. Black identity phrases occur, especially in the song called "Africa's Inside Me": "black power. . . . Africa is boiling over, flowing inside of me. . . . my. . . . naps [kinky twists of hair] kept shining through. . . . loves her blackness. . . . Africa keeps coming stronger. . . . like my Egyptian kin, it's Africa within. . . . Africa's glory and toil will teach. . . . 'embracer' of the jungle or ghetto melanin. . . . afro USA." The rapper calls himself a "Nubian man"; ("Warm Sentiments";) and he brings up his idea about "when an African becomes a nigger"; ("Ease My Mind.")

      Facets of the mass media and the individuals within who handle race relations nurture sympathies for violent black nationalism by not covering it in the same way they cover violent white nationalism. In particular, there is incomplete coverage, no coverage, biased coverage, spotty coverage, sparse coverage, or open embracement of black nationalism. Continuing to recognize the benefit and necessity of keeping sympathizing whites as part of the cause, Arrested Development includes the role of sympathizing whites in five phrases. In particular, the rappers laud "bi-racial shows"; (from "Pride";) they want all races to know that technological progress gets out of control when it is guided by profit, and that "the plan is to reduce us to survival" rather than to obey God's plans; ("In the Sunshine";) they say that "it's not white, not black" but all races who should embrace their views which includes views of "the Panthers, the MOVE organization, Kwame Nkrumah, [and] the Zulu Nation"; ("United Minds";) and "just a shell until you decide to rebel" includes "white or black"; (from "Shell.")

      Problems that blacks face are caused by whites with power or money, they say through their music. A rapper gives a warning to "Mister Landlord" whose "neck was burning red" and who, according the rapper without details given, spied on the rapper's family and gave "racist comments" and a "racist approach" toward them. "I'm not a lil' ole' colored boy," says the rapper, and if the landlord were to slap him on the cheek, he would punch the landlord back in the teeth. A further warning is given to the landlord who is racist in the eyes of the rapper: "Just to bring peace do I have to get a piece [handgun]?" Landlords have been abusing tenants ever "since Columbus came," we are told. The landlord's type of people must be, according to the rapper, those "waving Confederate flags and gun toting," and so the rapper invokes a West African god of war: "Ogune . . . soon his spell will clear my brain while he clears where I dwell; I call on the natural forces that be . . . to free me." ("Mister Landlord.) "This system [is] . . . dropping lies in a sack like a stork." ("Kneelin at My Altar.")

      Listeners should "resist this wack society" or else they may fool their "subconscious into accepting it." ("Ease My Mind.") "The powers that be are families of power with old money," and they are to be called "the oppressor" who does not have "righteous sight." Arrested Development says that "GOD is the answer," that they want "total justice," and that "we can stop [the] New World Order."

      "Brothers and sisters" who sell drugs to the "followers" are "sell outs" because it allows the system to excuse hiring more police officers which in turn results in more "police brutality." Drug-dealing blacks are "uncle Toms" because they support old rich whites, seen by the very fact that "drugs and guns [are] supplied by the villain."

      Solutions presented by "the powers that be" cannot be trusted because they "bear no fruits." ("United Minds.") Listeners should not depend on the government especially since "the government's got a plan of their own . . . separate from most [and] in sync with a few." ("Ache'n for Acres.") We are told by Arrested Development that it is poverty that causes people to have no control over their actions: "backstabbing is like breathing when in poverty." ("Ease My Mind.")

      "Power to the people, y'all," says the group's primary rapper, "the struggle for liberation of African peoples still continues, never settle for our present oppression. . . . possessed with the spirits of the Black Panthers, the Move organization, Nat Turner, Assata [Shakur], David Walker, [and] Patrice Lumumba." ("Pride.")

      Creating a mock radio station, WMFW FM, standing for "We Must Fight and Win," Arrested Development endorses raggae artists and rappers, of whom some put out violently racist lyrics, and the vocalists listed are Bob Marley, Public Enemy, Paris, Living Colour, KRS-One, Queen Latifah, Jungle Brothers, and The Last Poets. ("WMFW--we must fight & win--FM.") "United we plan as a United Front," declare the rappers, and they "call on the Red, and the Black, and the Green, and the black and the green," which refers to the flag started by Marcus Garvey in order to represent Pan-Africanism and black nationalism. ("United Front.") The rapper walks the streets passing along his "energy," and he lets listeners know the message for the street: "put the gun down black man. . . . save those rounds for a real confrontation."

References
3 Years--5 months--and 2 Days in the Life of, Arrested Development, 1992, Chrysalis Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.
Revolution, Arrested Development, 1992, Chrysalis Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.
Zingalamaduni, Arrested Development, 1994, Chrysalis Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on June 30, 1999.

Last editing was posted July 23, 1999.

The above article is not a complete summary of Arrested Development's connections to violently racist music, and readers may want to research and expose more of it.

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