Hey guys! Who do you think is underrated and why? EX: I believe that Angel Haze is underrated and has underachieved because she does´t sell out
Azealia Banks to me has underachived because of things that have nothin to do with her music, she´s an AMAZING rapper! She´s probably the best out there... Raps n sings better than all rappers out there... Her reportoire has to expand tho, Nicki Minaj has done it all
Duran Duran? Big L? Remy Ma?
Lil Kim gets forgotten I believe... Don´t know why...

The Monkees have never been taken seriously by the Jann Wenner's of the world, because of how they were created for a TV sitcom. But their music has been featured in modern movies & TV shows and there is a Monkees convention every year. Tom Petty said the group was one of his inspirations growing up.

MickyDolenz said:

RJOrion said:

Azealia Banks is the best female rapper of all time, and an amazing dancer and singer, and quite beautiful and intelligent as well...its a shame that she's been pretty much blackballed from the mainstream...she's not the crazy woman that the media depicts her to be...she's just not afraid to speak her mind about the evils of the entertainment industry and that always results in career suicide...especially for a black woman [Edited 7/30/19 11:21am]

Might be
She doesn´t sell out, just like Haze. And they say what they want to, when they want to. They need to keep their mouths shut for a while, do their thing in other genres like Nicki, she raps, in a pop song, she still doin her thing... Nas and Eminem did it too... The thing is that it´s a piramid, and the top can do whatever they want, the bottom can´t

White Men
White Woman
Black Men------
Black Woman----

you lose more and more rights as you go down the piramid, and it´s not yo fault! you were born like that!

who wants success where you can't speak your mind, that sounds like hell to me. then the labels they throw at you if you do speak your mind and all the confusion they create with the public. I think TTD did the right thing by just leaving the usa and the biz. As far as underrated, the world is full of talent, some of them get a level of recognition, most of them don't, it's not that mystifying. Pop music isn't rocket science and being a good pop star has a limited relation to talent and hardwork. "Success" is a loaded term in this society, if you had to suck a ton of cock to get where you're successful and you can live with yourself, more power to ya, not everyone can.

There's an L.A. sista by the name of Donna Washington who, from 1980-1982 put out three albums on Capitol. Amazing voice. Very soulful and the latter two albums produced by Chuck Jackson (Natalie Cole), BUT...for some reason she didn't catch fire. STILL don't know how/why. Her second album, "Going For The Glow," 1981 had an awesome lead single 1/2 penned by Luther. It's called "S'cuse Me While I Fall In Love." Had a sneaky Old School bassline, perfect melody, harmonies, etc...I think it only peaked #26 R&B. Could be wrong. The album, I believe might have reached #7 R&B? Again, not sure. The third album, again with Jackson, nada. No hits. Capitol dropped her. She went on to do a couple of House songs in the early 2000's, I believe and they were pretty popular. I was happy for her.

Fastforward 33 years. I emailed David Nathan at Soulmusic Records asking him if he would consider remastering and releasing her stuff. He had never heard of her and checked her out; enough to remaster/reissue on CD for the first time since vinyl release only, her second album, "Going For The Glow." I was elated, ecstatic (for Donna) and David would later inform me that it really didn't sell well in its reincarnation. I was so disappointed because she's been my favorite female vocalist since I was a Junior in high school. She has a Facebook account, but literally NEVER checks in. So sad. She's still here singin' 2 ME tho! Check out her "For The Sake Of Love" and "Just For You" albums on vinyl or download. Never made it to CD with those. She's doin' Jazz on Youtube. Makes me happy 2 hear her again and again and again. LOVE her vocals! Hope u might too! <3

[Edited 8/5/19 19:35pm]

[Edited 8/5/19 19:37pm]

Most underrated rock band : J. Geils Band

Most underrated R&B singer : Howard Tate

Most underrated guitarist : Robbie Robertson

Most underrated blues artist : Little Milton

MickyDolenz said:

Some people my grandma had records of.