Making the Band, or Making a Mistake?

3.2.22

Diddy, Making the Band

Making the Band was one of the most popular hits in reality television back in 2002 to 2005. Artist Diddy was setting out to search for the next hottest R&B/Singing groups that he could find. We ended up with new groups, Day 26 and Danity Kane, but their success did not live long. As the internet revisits these memories, one artist in particular, says it was wrong from the start.

Twitter and social media has been revisiting clips from the show, Making the Band. It brings back fun memories, when reality television was a little more respectable for what it was. You had a large group of talented individuals, doing whatever it took to get Diddy’s co-sign, and ultimately, make it to being a part of his band.

There were crazy challenges, like sing-offs. It would look like a rap battle or a dance off, where each opponent would face off against each other, while their entire crew would stand behind them. Diddy was catching some heat, and some laughs, as he trolled them throughout the course of these battles, to do better.

One clip that has been seeing an extra bit of attention, is when Diddy made the group walk from Times Square to Brooklyn, to get him some cheesecake. If you recall, he had made a request of his artists, and one of them got a little heated throughout the conversation, feeling like he may be loosing his pride to this man who is giving him demands. Diddy of course was not having it, and whether or not this was all for film, viewers certainly got a laugh.

If Diddy wasn’t shutting the studio down, he was making them walk all the way to Brooklyn to get him a slice of cheesecake. Making the Band 2 was MTV’s Squid Game.

While most of this revisiting of clips is all for fun and laughs, former Day 26 artist, Willie Taylor, decided to make things more serious. He spoke out during the time of this trending topic saying:

Making the band was an experience for sure … but the platform and contracts were all set up for failure of the hungry talents. Learning Experience, you gotta Understand that People will do to you whatever you allow them, so don’t let your passion drive you to the wrong destination #MTB4 Day26 / Danity Kane are talented groups but the situation in which we met was designed to fail. #DaBand #DanityKane #Day26 #DonnieKlang 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Today, Willie Taylor is still creating his own music, along with some other of his own business adventures. However, it is clear that he feels negatively towards the situation that he was put in, after all is said and done.

The thing about a show like this, is you are trying out for one specific deal with one specific partner. It was likely already written out to what they would offer to a television show finalist, and likely not ideal for someone whom may have come up with it organically. On top of that, many artists are never satisfied with their contracts even if they do find them organically, so it seems to always be a difficult conversation. However, in this situation, they did not have the opportunity to take a deal from another label or brand, they were fighting for Diddy’s deal.

In the end, the opportunity is what got him here. And if you are not willing to walk to Brooklyn for cheesecake, or deal with the criticism that comes with being an artists under the name of one of the biggest in the industry, it is likely that someone else will. What will you do for your shot?

Would you walk to Brooklyn for cheesecake, or do other crazy requests to earn your shot at success?