Slept-On Group Members
Talented band mates who don't get their due.
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Slept-On Group Members - Nearly every group has its front man, its face, its star, that fans and the press latch on to. The Fugees had Lauryn Hill; the Pussycat Dolls had Nicole Scherzinger. But sometimes that one-person star power comes at the expense of very talented band mates. The following list is dedicated to slept-on and overlooked group members who don't get their due. Read on to get familiar. —Alex Gale (Photos from left: Craig Bromley/Getty Images for GREY GOOSE, Scott Wintrow/Getty Images, Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
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Big Boi - Andre 3000 is so good, and has been so selective and mysterious musically post-OutKast, that folks forget just how fresh his band-mate Big Boi’s strutting, double-time rhymes and space-funk production are. His last full-length, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours, was one of the best, most imaginative albums of 2012. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for The Get Schooled Foundation)
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Phife Dawg - Q-Tip was the heart and soul of A Tribe Called Quest, but fans underestimate the important role of Phife Dawg, who kept his partner the Abstract's abstract thoughts grounded in reality. (Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
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Kelly Rowland - Before she became a solo pop icon, Beyoncé’s star shined so bright that she often left her Destiny’s Child band mates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams in the shadows. But now that Kelly’s releasing her own material, from her 2011 No. 1 blockbuster “Motivation” to her new single, “Kisses Down Low,” listeners are finally basking in her glow as well. (Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Ketel One)
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MC Ren - N.W.A. was a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of legends: Ice Cube’s hall-of-fame rhymes, Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking beats and Eazy-E’s irrepressible Compton charisma and hustle. With those three grabbing headlines, MC Ren’s understated but sharp rhymes were criminally slept-on. (Photo: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Nona Hendryx - With the iconic pipes and name of Patti LaBelle at the forefront of legendary female trio LaBelle, band mate Nona Hendryx's still-formidable talents were and are often overlooked. (Photo: Will Ragozzino/Getty Images)
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Inspectah Deck - Almost every member of Wu-Tang’s original starting nine has released commercially or critically successful solo projects and maintained a career 20 years after the crew’s seminal debut, Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (rest in peace, Dirt McGurt). But Inspektah Deck, despite opening Wu classics like “Protect Ya Neck” and “Triumph” with straight-for-the-jugular bars, never received the same level of acclaim or exposure. (Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images)
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Mary Wilson - Everyone knows superstar Diana Ross, and thanks to Dreamgirls, Florence Ballard's tragic story and untapped talents are familiar to many as well. But the beauty and singing chops of the third Supreme, Mary Wilson, are often ignored. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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DMC - Everyone knew Run was nice, but DMC's amped-up ad-libs were the irreplaceable yang to the Reverend's yin. (Photo: Marc Stamas/Getty Images)
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Sheek Louch - When your bars are book-ended by all-time greats Jadakiss and Styles P, it's easy to pale in comparison — but their LOX bandmate Sheek Louch had skills, contributing timeless couplets to classics like "All About the Benjaminz." (Photo: Thos Robinson/Getty Images)