ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT : Wry Rappers Find Strength in Numbers

“3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of . . . “ sounds like a prison sentence--and therefore a great title for a stark album by a gangsta rap group, right?

Not quite.

The story behind the title of the hit debut album by mainstream Georgia rap-R&B; group Arrested Development helps explain some of the sextet’s wry imagination.

The title is about hard time, but not in prison. It’s a reference to how long it took between the formal start of the group in 1988 and its signing last year with Chrysalis Records.

Speech, the group’s erudite lead rapper and writer, says a lot of labels rejected Arrested Development because they couldn’t figure out how to market the group, whose cerebral, spiritual, peace ‘n’ love approach is neither in the hard-boiled gangsta rap camp nor in Hammer’s soft, pop-rap mold.

“There has to be an alternative to gangsta rap and silly pop rap,” says Speech, 23, whose real name is Todd Thomas. “An alternative that people can sink their teeth into and learn from.

“We’re tough in our own way. Just because we’re not violent and vulgar, we’re not soft. We address crucial problems in our music, and we urge people to take a long, hard look at these problems.”

The album’s “Mama’s Always on Stage,” for instance, deals with the trials of teen parenthood, while “Fishin’ 4 Religion” chides black churches for not being more socially active.

“We look at things the way groups like Public Enemy do, but in a more gentle, instructive way,” says Speech, who was inspired to enter rap by that group’s militant music.

Arrested Development, whose melodic “Tennessee” is one of the year’s most appealing singles, also consists of deejay Headliner, Aerle Taree, Montsho Eshe, Baba Oje and Rasa Don.

A key to the group’s success, Headliner says, is its music, which reaches beyond the normal rap sample territory to include bits of recordings by such artists as Bob Dylan, Minnie Riperton and Buddy Guy.

“Nobody would listen to what we say if the music wasn’t catchy and driving,” Headliner says. “Ultimately we’re trying to teach people to look inside themselves, to question what’s happening around them and to get along together. But if the music didn’t move them, they probably wouldn’t listen to a word we’re saying.”