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Film About Hip-Hop Group Arrested Development to Screen on Staten Island

By Nicholas Rizzi | November 18, 2014 3:48pm
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ST. GEORGE — A Staten Island filmmaker will screen her documentary about the '90s hip-hop group Arrested Development at the Staten Island Museum next month.

Lathleen Ade-Brown spent two years working on her film, "Beautiful, United and Free: The Cultural Movement of Arrested Development," about the group known for its 1992 hits "Tennessee" and "People Everday."

The group strayed from the popular "gangsta" rap style at the time and instead sang about positivity and personal struggles, which Ade-Brown, 28, said she hopes the documentary inspires young artists to do. 

"I wanted to document them and continue to keep their legacy in the public memory," Ade-Brown said.

"Especially for the new generation, to show them that they can use hip-hop to tell progressive stories and to heal and offer messages of hope through their music."

For the 30-minute film, narrated by "The Cosby Show"'s Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Ade-Brown flew out to Atlanta and spent several days talking to founding member Todd "Speech" Thomas and other members of the group about their career. The group won two Grammys for their debut album "3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..." and have put out nine more albums since.

"I knew that they were really popular in the '90s but, actually being able to see their archives, I saw how much of an impact they really have," the filmmaker said.

Arrested Development still tours the country but mostly plays overseas, where the group has a huge fan base in Japan, Australia and the Philippines, Ade-Brown said.

And knowing that Warner, who played Theo Huxtable of "The Cosby Show," was a huge fan of the group and used one of the songs as the intro to a sitcom he starred in, Ade-Brown took a shot and asked him to narrate it.

"I thought, 'He’ll be a great compliment to the doc,'" she said. "Surprisingly he was interested and he did it."

The film, which was partially funded by a grant from Staten Island Arts, plans to hit festivals for screenings across the country next year, but Ade-Brown said she wanted her home borough to see it first with the Dec. 14 screening.

"One of the things that I have to do is make it available to the Staten Island community," she said.

"I would love to get their feedback for it."

"Beautiful, United and Free" will screen on Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Staten Island Museum, followed by a Q-and-A with the director. For more information and to RSVP for the screening, email BeautifulUnitedandFree@gmail.com.