Nelson Mandela
- Arrested Development
“Tennessee” is a Hip-Hop classic released by Arrested Development from the album “3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of….” in 1992. Todd “Speech” Thomas, the founder of the group, was inspired to write the song upon the death of his grandmother and the loss of his brother soon after from a deadly asthma attack. While “Tennessee” is an emotional response to this tragic loss, it skillfully moves from Thomas’ personal grief to the all encompassing experience of being African American. 
Said Speech, “I wrote it because my older brother, his name is Terry Thomas, he and I met up in Tennessee for my grandmother – my favorite grandmother of all time – for her funeral. And that same week my brother left and went back to college, and I went back to college. And my brother died that same week. And that song was probably the first step of me recovering from the loss of two people that are just extremely close and dear to me. The chorus is ‘take me to another place, take me to another land, make me forget all that hurts me and help me understand your plan.’ It’s like a prayer to God. And just talking about sort of my journey in life, and that the last place I saw these important people in my life was in Tennessee.”
The song is Thomas’ plea to God for comfort in the face of death and guidance to understand His plan regarding African Americans, “Lord, I’ve really been real stressed, down and out, losing ground. Although I am black and proud, problems got me pessimistic. Brothers and sisters keep messin’ up, why does it have to be so damn tuff? I don’t know where I can go to let these ghosts out of my skull. My grandma past my brother’s gone, I never at once felt so alone.I know you’re supposed to be my steering wheel, not just my spare tire.”
In the final this plea is a wake up call to all of us regardless of color or belief. Our experience on this earth is but a moment and regardless of our perspective it is shared.
“Take me to another place, take me to another land.
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan….”
U of Music 