The Most Underrated Male Singer

You guys know how i like to write. I have to have some tunes blasting. It sets the atomspere and ambiance for me. Sometimes, whatever I put in helps me think of a topic for this blog. Which is the case today.

Mario (Barrett) is the most underrated male singer of our generation. I don't know why at all. It's not like the man can't sing. When he burst on to the scene in 2002, all the freshman girls in my high school played "Just A Friend 2002" until nobody cared for his version or the Biz Markie version anymore. Still, that album has yet to be certified platinum. There were hits on that album. Have you forgotten joints like "Braid My Hair" and "C'mon"? If you have, dust off those old compact discs. If that album didn't sell you on his talent, he hit us with 'Turning Point'.

'Turning Point' was Mario's attempt at a more mature sound. With that album, Mario found his biggest hit to date with "Let Me Love You". That song gave him some mainstream success. It put Mario on top of the Hot 100 singles chart for nine consecutive weeks. The album went platinum and "Let Me Love You" was a double platinum single. Still, the success he deserves eluded him.

In 2007, Mario bounced back with the album 'Go!'. With this effort, Mario started to see a huge decline in record sales, in lieu of strong singles. Even though songs like "Crying Out For Me" were hits on urban radio, this album only sold 331,540 copies in the U.S. He claims that internal strife with the record company caused the album to lose steam and fall off the charts quickly. Once again, the adoration he so richly deserves slipped away from him.

Now here we are in 2010, Mario has a new album out out. 'D.N.A.' is his lowest selling album ever. Selling a paltry 93,385 copies in the States. Why can't this brother catch a break. You know you have his songs on your ipod. So why can't we support his music. This is real music. It's everything we look for in songs. It's sexy, fun, mature - - need I go on? Bottomline, we can spend money and make T-Pain's auto-tuned out albums platinum, why can't we do the same for a man with a real voice. Go out and cop those discs. At least, buy them off of iTunes. Support real music.