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.
The song "Tennessee" is part of the
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.
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".
.