Released March 24, 1992 Length 61:08 Artist Arrested Development Producer Speech | Recorded 1991 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of...
(1992) Zingalamaduni
(1994) Release date 24 March 1992 | |
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Label Chrysalis/EMI
0946 3 21929 2 9
F2-21929 Genres Hip hop music, Alternative hip hop, Southern hip hop Awards Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist Similar Arrested Development albums, Hip hop music albums | ||
3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... is the debut album by American hip hop group Arrested Development, released on March 24, 1992. The album's chart success was the beginning of the popularization of Southern hip hop. 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... stood in stark contrast to the gangsta rap that ruled the hip hop charts in 1992 (such as Dr. Dre's The Chronic), in its focus on spirituality, peace and love. The album's title refers to the length of time it took Arrested Development to get a record contract.
Contents
The song "Tennessee" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.
Critical reception
3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... was released to widespread critical acclaim and was later voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Entertainment Weekly's James Bernard praised it as a "fresh-sounding debut album" and referred to Arrested Development as "the anti-gangsta" and "perhaps rap's most self-reflective act." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the group "displays unusual worldliness, wisdom and awareness on its debut, immediately establishing itself as a major new voice in hip-hop", noting Speech's social themes and rejection of "macho boasting and gangster posing". In a negative assessment, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice assigned the album a "dud" rating and wrote that the album was "not horrible by any means" but "too often the beats shambled and the raps meandered", though he would later revise his rating to single out "Tennessee" as a "choice cut".
Retrospectively, Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that the rise of gangsta rap abruptly put an end to what seemed to be a "shining new era in alternative rap" heralded by 3 Years and that the album, while not "quite as revolutionary as it first seemed", was nonetheless "a fine record that often crosses the line into excellence", further crediting it as "a major influence on a new breed of alternative Southern hip-hop, including Goodie Mob, Outkast, and Nappy Roots".
Track listing
- "Man's Final Frontier" – 2:39
- "Mama's Always on Stage" (Speech) – 3:25
- Samples "We're Ready" by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells on the album Hoodoo Man Blues
- "Parents Are People" by Harry Belafonte and Marlo Thomas
- "People Everyday" (Speech) – 4:57
- Interpolates "Everyday People" by Sly & the Family Stone & samples "Tappan Zee" by Bob James
- "Blues Happy" – 0:45
- "Mr. Wendal" (Speech) – 4:06
- Samples "Sing a Simple Song" by Sly & the Family Stone
- "Children Play with Earth" – 2:39
- "Raining Revolution" (Speech) – 3:25
- "Fishin' 4 Religion" (Speech) – 4:06
- "Give a Man a Fish" (Headliner/Speech) – 4:22
- Samples "When It Comes Down to It" by Minnie Riperton
- "U" (Speech) – 4:59
- Samples "Mighty Quinn" by Ramsey Lewis
- "Eve of Reality" – 1:42
- "Natural" (Speech) – 4:18
- Samples "Sunshine" by Earth, Wind & Fire.
- "Dawn of the Dreads" (Speech) – 5:17
- "Tennessee" (Speech) – 4:32
- Samples "Alphabet St." by Prince.
- "Washed Away" (Speech) – 6:24
- Samples "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" by The Persuaders.
Personnel
Chart positions
Billboard – album
Billboard – singles
Songs
1Man's Final Frontier2:40
2Mama's Always on Stage3:26
3People Everyday3:27