Alternative Rap Group Gets Its Bite From Corn

Posted on Jul 5th 2008 1:00PM by James Sullivan
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When they debuted in the early '90s, the organic "alternative" rap group Arrested Development stood out with a surprisingly crunchy vibe. Now we know where it came from -- must have been the corn.

In the past 30 years, a vendor called Robby's Roasted Corn has sold three million ears of corn at Summerfest, the 11-day Milwaukee celebration that's billed as the world's largest music festival. Robby is Robert Thomas, a 72-year-old lifelong entrepreneur who was one of the first African-American vendors to set up shop at Summerfest.

Thomas is the father of Todd Thomas, better known as the conscious rapper Speech, who is Arrested Development's frontman. When the older Thomas suffered a stroke a few years ago, Speech and his wife stepped in to help run the business. For the past few years, his group has kept their schedule free around the beginning of July so the rapper can help shuck corn.

"I first learned how to work being at this corn house as a child," says Speech. "The lesson of entrepreneurship, the lesson of striving to make opportunities for yourself and others, really ran strongly in my family."

So go ahead and call him corny.

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