Former J Records recording rap star Shells seems to be lost in obscurity these days. But no worries as we at Obscure Sounds proceed to shine the light on this underrated up-north spitter. Following his successful run as an underground battle rapper, the New York-bred MC caught the attention of talent scouts at J Records looking for fresh unsigned hype, and Shells was their winning pick. After hopping on his labelmates’ remixes (Lyric’s “Episode”, Mario’s “Just a Friend 2002”)

Check out the full collection of songs taken from Queen Latifah's collaborative compilation with her Flavor Unit Records signees: Storm P, Aposouls, The Athletes & Confidential, entitled "100% Hater Proof" (2002). Though the album isn't unreleased, it was an overlooked gem that dropped in stores on October 8, 2002 to modest praise from CD consumers and even got mentioned in the paper, most notably "Billboard" and "Jet" magazine, the latter where Latifah mentioned that she wou

Known outside of her solo work as an initial member of ‘90s R&B girl trio 702 and former part of Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak-signed Latina R&B group Affair, Tiffany Villarreal attempted to make it her all with her lone studio album, the simply self-titled CD: “Tiffany Villarreal” (2004). Its most notable single “You, Yourself and You” flew under the radar when not much promotion was given for the radio friendly tune, later costing its album’s release to be shipped exclusivel

Check out a collection of songs by Cash Money Records’ first R&B group Official (formerly known as Unplugged) with their scrapped debut “Tellin’ Our Story” (2001). The unreleased project was due to boast guest contributions from fellow labelmates Christina and Lil Wayne, alongside west coast R&B musician TQ. The album was led by two singles; the first being the Lil Wayne-featured “I Don’t Know”; the follow-up “Anything You Want” (also featuring Weezy) was given the full fledg

A collection of rare unreleased leftover material that failed to make the final cut of the standard track-listing to Missy Elliott’s former Goldmind Inc. signee Tweet’s sophomore album “It’s Me Again” (2005). The following content was originally recorded between 2003 and 2004 and eyed a release for late 2004; however the majority of the tracks would be scrapped due to Tweet’s previous label Elektra Records merging with Atlantic Records in the middle of the album’s production,

It will always be exhausting looking at the list of R&B musicians who were robbed of a proper career, and Ms. LaTangela Newsome has to be among the grandest pick for most underrated vocalists of an era. Long before her venture into television as the sassy antagonist on Nickelodeon’s “Taina”, LaTangela had whipped up an album’s worth of material that would be shopped to numerous record labels during the mid-‘90s as hopes to be signed – and according to her, she had a number of

Apologies in advance for such a hefty delay in posting. So much has been going on in my personal life that I've had to postpone a number of things. But one thing's for certain I'll always try my very best to update y'all weekly with these grand gems. Resuming back to our normal schedule I present to you what was a upload favorite on my old YouTube channel - the rare unreleased leftover material that failed to make the final cut to Ginuwine's third studio effort "The Life" (20

Like the rest of the world, I tend to wonder where Mona Lisa is currently hiding these days. Did she want to live a private life and focus on another profession, or was she burnt out from broken promises from the music industry when her presence was seemingly thrown to the shadows due to fierce competition R&B had to offer towards the turn of the new millennium? One thing’s for sure, this lovely songbird had cooked up some of the most memorable material for the ‘90s scene, an

Check out a collection of songs recorded during the era of one-third SWV member Coko's shelved sophomore album "Music Doll" (2001). The project was led by the buzz single "Think" which circulated underground on mixtapes and according to an article by Sister2Sister magazine, "Music Doll" was due to enlist production by Missy Elliott and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Track-listing is as follows: 1.) Happily Forever After 2.) Ghetto Girl 3.) Gotta Hold Over Me (Easy Lover) 4.) Te

Complete collection of known songs recorded during the era of one-third TLC member T-Boz's unreleased solo debut album "Still Cool" (2011). The effort entered production as early as 2005 with the track "My Heart" being listed as a warm-up demo and later evolving the recording sessions into club-themed material, with the initial offering "Get It, Get It" being leaked to the internet circa fall of 2009. The single unfortunately fell on deaf ears, hence the effort went through a

Partial collection of songs taken from one-third TLC member Chilli's shelved solo debut album entitled "Bipolar" (2008). The project first entered production in 2006 with the working title "Point of View" and was originally due to be led by the Polow da Don-produced single "Straight Jack'em", featuring guest verses by best friend Missy Elliott and rumored introductory vocals by Pepa of legendary hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa. Unfortunately, due to its unforeseen leak in February 2

For those who didn't know, long before Ne-Yo ventured out into the spotlight with his debut album "In My Own Words" (2006), he had already composed his very first album on Columbia Records, the cleverly titled "Welcome to the World According to Schaffer" (2001). The album generated only one single, with the somber offering "Lonely, Sad and Blue", which received light rotation on east coast radio stations but failed to impact elsewhere in the states. As consequence, the album

Here's a collection of songs intended for C+C Music Factory-affiliated bunch and underrated R&B trio A.S.K. M.E.'s unreleased debut album "Moving Everybody" (2000). The shelved project was led by the lone single "I Know What You Did", which attained slight radio airplay but failed to successfully impact any form of Billboard chart. Guest features for the album have been rumored to comprise of production duo Nate-Love & Big Mike alongside Chicago's renowned Afro-Puerto Rican R

Firstly shout-out to my bestie @UKnowDaVybez for designing the artwork to this long sought-after effort. Over time, there has not been enough in-depth information disclosing the recording process and expected release of radio personality Miss Jones’ unreleased debut album “Love, Jones” (1994). What we do know for a fact is that there were two singles (“Where I Wanna Be Boy”, “Don’t Front”) released in advance of the project and it was due to be released under StepSun Music E

Rell has to be one of the most unappreciated male voices from the early millennial R&B era. Signed to music mogul Jay Z’s highly reputable Roc-a-Fella Records imprint, Rell would go on to showcase his vocal chops on an array of Roc-related works such as the original motion picture soundtrack to “Streets Is Watching” (1998) alongside guest hopping on fellow labelmates records like Freeway, Memphis Bleek and unquestionably his own mentor Jay Z. Still, with all that credibility

It serves with no regard that Lil' Mo is undoubtedly one of the powerhouse talents from her era that was robbed of so much mainstream recognition thanks in part to her affiliation with a label (Elektra) known for its track-record of underpromoting, or otherwise, shelving singers if their Billboard charting entries aren't up to par with their unrealistic standards. So it should be no surprise that Mo clashed with the label on several occasions when it came to readying the rele

Full collection of songs taken from underrated female R&B quartet Cherish’s shelved debut album “The Moment” (2003). Following their guest appearances on the Cartoon Network “Powerpuff Girls” soundtrack “Power Pop” and Da Brat’s summer 2003 single “In Love with Chu”, Cherish readied their own single during the course of July 2003 as effort to create buzz for their pending debut album. Freshly signed to Warner Bros. Records, Cherish enlisted the help of recurring collaborator

Though you may or may not know, Torrey “T.C.” Carter was due to be the first ever signed male musician to Missy Elliott’s label The Goldmind Inc. With that hype, came a strong lead single (“Take That”) which was due to spike awareness of his anticipated debut project “The Life I Live” (2000). Sadly, his album was canned due to rumored petty label politics at Elektra Records, the parent label of Elliott’s Goldmind imprint. For further clarification and for those who might have

Dating back to 1997, fresh off the success of her debut "Nobody Does It Better" (1996) and a summertime promo single "You Bring the Sunshine", Gina Thompson made the decision to sign to Elektra Records for further opportunities and by means to expose her name further in the mainstream scene as the label was heavily responsible for successful acts like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, AC/DC, Motley Crue and more. In 1998, after signing to the label, Gina began working heavily on

Partial collection of songs recorded during the period of former Missy Elliott protégée Nicole Wray's unfinished sophomore album "Elektric Blue" (2001). Production for the album dates back as early as 1999, when Nicole ventured out to seek creative control for songwriting. The "Make It Hot" songstress partnered with producers outside the SuperFriends clique and recruited composers Diane Warren, Teddy Bishop, Harold Lily, Tamara Savage, Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo of The Nep