Redevelopment in the noughties

The venue was relatively smaller than what veteran hip-hop band Arrested Development was used to in their heyday. And perhaps younger fans were not entirely familiar with their impact in the nineties.

It couldn't have mattered less to the band members, who looked like they were having the time of their lives. Last weekend two-time Grammy award-winning Arrested Development played at Irish Village's 12th birthday celebrations.

It's been more than a decade and they have pursued solo careers, done the "family thing" and made music outside their home country.

Speaking to Notes during an autograph signing session at Gap in Deira City Centre ahead of their performance, band members Baba Oje, Speech and Eshe said they are striving to deliver hip-hop music with a conscience again.

What did everyone do when the band split up in 1995-96?

Eshe: Everybody did different things. Speech came out with a solo record. I went into music management and choreography for artists and dancing for other artists. Speech got married, had kids… that kinda thing. Lots of us did the family thing. We all stayed creative.

Since reuniting, you've made music in Japan, Australia, Europe… but why not in the United States?

Eshe: We still do music all over, even in the States. The States is just different from around the world. We've been releasing stuff, but it's just [that] other places have embraced us more. We have an album out now and we're working on a new record to release next year in the States and abroad.

Speech: I also think the music industry in America has gotten so much smaller and to a point where there are less people making decisions about what music is gonna be promoted there. And so it's discouraged us from doing much music there. And we've gotten so much love from other places in the world that we didn't feel that we should ignore the places that were feeling what we were doing in the States.

Do you have dreams of achieving the kind of fame you did in the nineties?

Eshe: I think I speak for the group when I say you definitely want to be respected at home. You wanna do well there.

Speech: The truth is I feel like I never want us to be as big as we were in the nineties in the same way. I like the independent route we've been able to take recently and we're hoping to have the same respect but not the same type of dependence we used to have on our singles.

The African-inspired, bohemian style you used to have was fantastic. What image are you aiming for these days?

Speech: We've been talking about that a lot lately

Eshe: We definitely will stay with the cultural Afro-centricity but take a more kinda high fashion look.

Speech: We still want to have a bohemian energy but we want the clothes to go the high fashion route.

Are there any current hip hop artists you respect and are there ones you don't care much for?

Speech: For me I really respect a lot of artists right now. There are a lot of underground artists that I just adore and then there are some who've gotten some extra attention like Kanye West and Talib Kweli whom I appreciate. And the Roots, Common – these are the artists I appreciate a lot. And then there are other artists I can appreciate but I just wish there was more balance to level them out – artists like Lil' Wayne, or Ludacris. I appreciate the songs they put out but I feel that there's not as much balance as there used to be.

You met Barack Obama. What was that like?

Speech: We did a rally for him. It was him and Oprah Winfrey in the South Carolina area. It was incredible to meet him and Michelle Obama.