by Tara Pringle Jefferson

If you want to put on some sexy music, you have the classics – “Sexual Healing,” “Between the Sheets,” “If This World Were Mine,” etc. If you’re a little younger, you might consider “Forever My Lady” and “I’ll Make Love to You” to be tops on your list.

My husband hipped me to a lot of “love music” when we hooked up. (Hence the two babies.) Some songs were already extremely familiar due to the radio stations playing them 82 times a day.

But some had me scratching my head, wondering why I had never heard of these songs. Simply put, these were those hidden gems on artist’s CDs that didn’t make it on the radio.

I love these songs because since they’re not so familiar to you, the listener ends up paying more attention to the lyrics, the composition, the emotion in the singer’s voice, all crucial element in baby-making music.

So I’ll throw out a couple of my favorite “hidden gems,” those songs that are truly underrated:

“Make Me Whole” by Amel Larrieux. She’s underrated period! This song is so beautiful, soft and touching. A simple declaration that sums up my feelings for the love of my life. He is the only one who makes me whole!

“I Do (Millions)” by Dru Hill on their 2002 CD, “Dru World Order.” I love this song and had it on our wedding favor CD. Simply put, it speaks to the enduring love of OUR relationship, despite the fact that many marriages fail. It ain’t happening to us.

“You” by Raheem DeVaughn. Raheem DeVaughn is pretty underrated, just like Amel. But this song got a little buzz and I swear I wondered where it went…

Floetry’s entire 2005 CD, “Flo’Ology. My goodness, Marsha Ambrosius has the voice of an angel. “Say Yes,” from one of their earlier CDs, burned up the radio waves but their follow-up CD fell short, in my opinion.

These are just some of the songs I could think of off the top of my head. What about you?

What are some of your all-time favorite love songs that never got the respect they deserve on the radio? Who makes the best baby-making music? Does my child-support case against Maxwell have a chance? (That’s a total joke, for all you who didn’t get it…Don’t want any misconceptions running wild on the internet! LOL)

Tara Pringle Jefferson is a freelance writer living in Ohio with her husband and two children. Visit her blog, www.theyoungmommylife.com, to read more of her observations about life, motherhood and love.