Coming at a time when the brazen misogyny and swaggering violence of gangsta rap had middle-class America in a veritable chokehold, Arrested Development’s organic, rootsy hip-hop was a swift kick in the pants. The group’s multi-platinum debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the life of…, featured soulful blues lamentations like “Tennessee” and “Mr. Wendal” that blurred genre boundaries long before the genesis of buzzwords like “neo-soul” or “socially conscious hip-hop.”

The group fell on hard times after the overly-didactic stylings of its follow-up failed to sell, but every member has kept busy. Lead singer Speech has not only continued to cultivate the group’s sound here in America, but has also become somewhat of a celebrity in Japan.

Speech spoke with The Badger Herald about growing up in the Dairy State, Asian infatuations and the new direction of Arrested Development.

BH: How did growing up in Milwaukee shape your tastes as an artist?

S: I loved it. I grew up in a time that I believe was the golden era of Milwaukee, it was like New York to me. We had an incredibly vibrant hip-hop scene in the ’80s.

BH: Milwaukee is often cited in studies as one of the most racially segregated cities in the country. Did you find that to be true?

S: My family happened to be middle-class, and I went to school with all white kids. I was literally the only black kid until 3rd grade until they started busing black kids in from the inner city. When I grew up, there was no black middle-class neighborhood. If you were black and middle-class, you lived in the white middle-class neighborhood. Other than that, blacks lived in the inner city, and that’s how I think Milwaukee got that reputation.

BH: Can we hear this in your music?

S: Very much so. I had personal racial attacks made on me when I was growing up — people broke into our homes, demolished our windows and playsets. Some of my best friends were white, but at the same time we were getting that treatment from other whites. In addition, my mother and father owned a black newspaper in the heart of the inner city where you saw all of those issues — I definitely think it all comes out in Arrested Development and what the music is all about.

BH: Besides solo efforts, what have you been doing with your time away from the group?

S: I do production work for groups in Japan, because that’s where my biggest market is. I’ve released five solo albums in Japan, all of which have gotten top ten hits there. I’ve really stretched out as an artist, with hip-hop always being the base.

BH: Can you pinpoint the reason for Japan’s infatuation with American urban music?

S: Japan is a totally different culture and tradition. They’ve been raised to have respect for one another, to work hard and have pride in it. While Eminem and 50 Cent are larger here, they’re not on the charts in Japan. The things that they gravitate towards have more positive energy.

BH: When “Tennessee” hit, how did you and Arrested Development feel about being “the alternative” to gangsta rap?

S: We felt great, because we knew that we were on a mission. We knew that we had something important to accomplish — to get messages out to the nation through creative means about family, respecting women, the history of African-Americans and about spirituality. In hip-hop, all of that had a pretty big void. We didn’t consider ourselves “alternative hip-hop,” but we were an alternative to what was being presented.

I’m a firm believer that people will like what they’re exposed to. If they’re not exposed to many things, then you have no choice but to like what you are exposed to. That’s what’s happening right now in the hip-hop realm.

BH: Is hip-hop today suffering from the same homogenization as it was in the early ’90s?

S: The music of the early ’90s was more creative. The samples were harder to find, and the rhymes were more diverse. You had your gangsta hip-hop, which, by the way, has its place in the music realm. You had N.W.A. and Ice Cube, but you also had Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, whereas today everyone’s trying to do hard-core. When I say everyone, I mean popular hip-hop. There is an underground that does not fit that mold.

BH: How did all the members of Arrested Development come together for this reunion tour after the hiatus?

S: We didn’t really make a decision to break-up, per se. We stopped recording because we just needed a break from one another. That was in 1995. It was mainly because of the huge success of the group. It was pretty overwhelming for us. We began as a communal, organic hip-hop group. But when the money and business starts to become a big issue … it really took us for a loop and we didn’t know how to work with it. But we always wondered what would happen if we did more music together.

In 1999, we had a talk. The pains and hurts — time had healed those. We decided to go in the studio and see what would happen, and we did two experimental records called Da ‘Feelin and Heroes of the Harvest, both of which were released in Japan.

BH: How has Arrested Development’s sound evolved since the debut album?

S: We’ve grown a lot as group members. Everyone has had a chance to work on their talent and bring it to the forefront on this tour. Our abilities have gotten better, and you’re gonna hear more of that original element of hip-hop. Our vision has expanded since those days.

Arrested Development is headlining WASB’s All-Campus Party Concert this Saturday, May 3 on the Memorial Union Terrace. Opening acts begin at 2 p.m.