Arrested Development: Sunshine in Winter

A few hip-hop myths: it's always raining in New York, always sunny in LA, and no good rappers come from anywhere but these two cities. The last is the greatest and most pervasive myth, which has seen regional hip-hop overlooked and under-promoted. One band who bucked the trend were Arrested Development, a colourful collection of musicians, singers and MCs from various far flung parts of the US. Their roots-y, positive music struck a chord, and their Grammy award-winning debut LP was a massive crossover success. Ten years later, rapper Speech has toured with democratic politicians such as Al Gore and Hilary Clinton as a speaker on black culture and other issues, various band members have started families, and many things have changed. But it seems the usually fickle public hold a special place in their hearts for AD.

"We were all pretty content with the idea of not coming back together as a group," says Speech. "But the fans really made us re-think the issue, and made us re-consider, 'cos they were like: 'Man, we really miss what you guys did when you were on the scene,' and it encouraged us. We realised that there was much more we could do, not just on a political activism level, but on a creative and artistic level too." Four members of Speech's band have joined as full members, bringing the grand total to eight, still including mentor-figure Baba Ojay.

In the background, small children are laughing and playing. I ask Speech if fatherhood has changed his approach to his music: "I think becoming a father does make you more aware of the need for hip-hop music that's not all talking about the same kind of stuff. It has brought back a lot of innocence to my life." As he talks, Speech keeps returning to what he sees as hip-hop's Golden Age, the late 80s to mid 90s: "If you talk to most people, they look at the late 80s / early 90s as the glory days of hip-hop. I think the reason I loved hip-hop from that era was that it was just more balanced, There was gangster hip-hop in that era, 2 Live Crew were talking about strip clubs, but also MC Hammer was talking about dancing, and A Tribe Called Quest were talking about what they were doing. Everyone didn't all sound the same, they weren't all using the same producers. There was still negative and positive hip-hop, straight party hip-hop. Think about it – it was the most colourful moment in hip-hop. Public Enemy could have toured with Hammer and it would have made sense. Everything was alright!"

Speech feels that regional acts are being ignored for specific reasons in the industry that hip-hop has become: "The problem is that it's just not being exposed, but it's out there, and it's fantastic music, very vibrant. The is the way the music industry has changed. Everything has merged together: all the video channels, all the major labels, all the radio stations are influenced by very few people. They're not interested any more, and that has cloned the playlist. With capitalism the main drive is business. Politically, socially conscious music is an inconvenient truth: it doesn't make sense for business, or in terms of the escapism in entertainment that drives capitalism." Speech is still a man on a mission. Neither a decade in the industry nor fatherhood have changed that. "There's some very sad things going on in society right now. But the saddest thing for me is that at the biggest moment for hip-hop, which by all means this is, it is also the most materialistic time period of hip-hop, and it's sort of sad. It's like we have our biggest chance right now to make an impact, not just musically but also socially. We're not using it, or at least many are not. I do believe in miracles, and in terms of the hip-hop scene I think things could be more colourful and balanced, like it used to be." Buying 'Since The Last Time' is a bit like buying your veg from the organic grocer instead of the supermarket – a natural product that makes you feel good inside. Now isn't that what you've been waiting for?