TV One debuted this amazing series damn near 10 years ago in fall 2008. I can't believe it's been that long, but I'm glad the franchise is still around and expanding.

List of all 11 seasons here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unsung_episodes

I love that there's an "Unsung Hollywood" (Cooley High, Pam Grier, A Different World...) and subgenre-themed shows, like the House and Disco joints.

There's also an Unsung film franchise. "Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story" debuted last year. This fall we're supposed to be getting a Debarge movie, "All This Love: The Debarge Family Story."

After watching several dozen episodes over the years, I got some questions.

1. Do you feel the series has fallen off track in terms of focusing on artists that are truly "unsung"?

Like, are Next and Jagged Edge really "unsung"? I know the definition of "unsung" is subjective. For the record, I'm not mad at the aforementioned episodes because I love a good documentary. For example, I never thought of H-Town as "unsung," but I loved the H-Town episode! The people they interviewed were entertaining, including Shazam!

To me, the first few seasons set the bar mad high. Donny Hathaway. Phyllis Hyman. Debarge. Minnie Riperton. Zapp & Roger. Angela Winbush.

Sheeiit.

It's much harder to debate that these artists are NOT unsung compared to Next ("Baby when we're grinding" / I get so excited...Ooh how I like it, I try but I can't fight it")

One thing I appreciate about the series is that they're expanding into newer decades. While I'm generally more interested in the 70s and 80s artists, I was soooo happy to see the Mint Condition episode, my favorite boy band of all time.

2. Did the series put you on to artists that you didn't know about, overlooked or only knew about on a casual level?

I'm showing my age here (post-1985 80s baby) but I'd never heard of Sylvester. And although I always knew about Troop's big hits, like "Spread My Wings," and their J5 cover of "All I Do Is Think Of You," I was never really into them. Now I listen to their first two albums all the time. More than anything, the Troop episode made me realize how fucking amazing Chuckii Booker is...dude needs an Unsung episode STAT.

3. Disappointing episodes so far?

I can't think of any off bat but I was disappointed the Atlantic Starr episode didn't mention some of their bigger hits. To be fair, it was probably a copyright and/or budget obstacle. This brings me to No. 4...

4. Do you think this series would be better on BET? I feel like BET/Viacom has more resources (mainly, $$$ resources) than TV One/Urban One, which is black-owned.

I don't even think Comcast has that 48-49% stake in the company anymore. Then again, I'm wondering if BET is too mainstream to really give an artist like Miki Howard and Freddie Jackson the time of day. I'm sure the forthcoming Debarge movie probably won't have the same budget as 1/3 of the BET New Edition movie. I still haven't seen the Miki Howard biopic. Hopefully, it wasn't Lifetime quality.

5. Who is deserving of an Unsung episode but hasn't been featured?

I know some artists have been approached and were like, "No, thanks." Stephanie Mills is one of them. Heavy D got an episode but it is my understanding he wasn't interested when he was alive.

6. Those of you familiar with copyright law, music licensing, digital TV episodes, DVD production--what would keep a series like this from being made available for purchase on Google Play, iTunes, Amazon and/or from being released on DVD?

FYI: New episodes for summer 2017. Season 11.
Wyclef (July 9)
Jagged Edge (July 9)
Marvin Sapp (July 16)
Switch (July 23)
The Dramatics (July 30)
Shanice (August 6)
Ice-T (August 13)

--
"Music is not to be possessed; it's to be shared.” - James Mtume

"Just stay loose, keep it raw, and bang ya drums out sometimes." - Madlib