Making the Band Part II http://www.elsegundousd.com/eshs/be2003/januaryarticles/features/maki...
Making the Band Part II: P. Diddy Style
Joy Thiel
P. Diddy has done it again! He has once again made someone’s dreams come true of being a professional musician in the hip-hop music biz. With his ethnic style he created a hip-hop reality show that made 17 lucky people famous, and six were given music contracts that will change their lives.
Before P. Diddy started making the show he stated, “This show will be a wild ride. No tricks or gimmicks, just P. Diddy reality”. He also stated, “I been creating stars since I was 19, and this show will give insight into what it takes to be at the top. I’m excited to be working with MTV and doing what I love to do – create and nurture new talent.”
Diddy started the auditions for show on July 22, 2002 in Detroit. Other auditions took place throughout the rest of the summer in Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City. To audition, contestants had to be at least 18 years old and Diddy evaluated them on merits of their writing, dancing and performance skills. The 10-episode season of “Making the Band II” premiered on October 12, 2002.
Though auditions were tough, there were 17 finalists out of thousands ranging from the late teens to late twenties. They became the cast of the show and were chosen to live in a luxury town house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When the group arrived at the house, they were given the rules of the house and show. This included memorizing one of P. Diddy’s favorite mantras painted on the house mezzanine walls. It reads, “Life is not a game. Only the fittest and most aggressive will survive. Sleep is forbidden. A second cannot be wasted. Once seconds are lost, you lose. And losing is for losers.” Cast members were also required to participate in a boot camp that was heavy on the back-breaking exercises and light on water breaks. Every week contestants were kicked out of the house. Anything could get you in trouble: a bad attitude, a dirty room or, most often the case, a bad performance.
During the taping of the show Dylan John, called DilinJah, was not only on probation but also facing an eight-month sentence in jail. Over the years this 23-year-old rapper from Brooklyn, had become accustomed to appearing in courtrooms. “I got my hands muddy from time to time,” he admitted in an interview. So P. Diddy intervened on behalf of the young rapper, eventually, in saving him from serving time through a letter-writing campaign. DilinJah was also involved in many arguments and fights with another rapper finalist, Chopper. But DilinJah and Chopper remained on the show and were threatened to be dismissed. “Everything was peaches and cream at first”, explained rapper Rodney Hill, a.k.a Chopper City. “But when we got to the house it was so much pressure. People were being dropped like flies.”
In another episode Jamie Huy, the cast’s token Caucasian, was called a “white devil” by Belinda Carter, another cast member. The low blow reduced Huy to tears; he said he has been “dealing with this” since he began rapping. In the middle of the series Kimberly Bert, known as Mysterious, a rough and tough young woman from Detroit who spent most of her 19 years in foster care, was informed that her 13-year-old sister’s body was found, hacked to pieces in a neighbor’s trash can. When the other finalists heard the news they reached out to her with open arms and after attending the funeral, Mysterious quickly returned to the show. “I would have been surprised if she didn’t come back”, says Alison Stanley, the Bad Boy label’s product manager. “There was much more of a support unit in New York than there was for her at home”. I n an
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“There was much more of a support unit in New York than there was for her at home”. I n an addition to that one of the female contestants took a pregnancy test and it was positive.
Within all of that drama six contestants were finally chosen to receive a full music contract with Bad Boy Records. Sorry to all of those who missed out on this drama for your mama show. MTV has not yet released a statement about when re-runs of the show will be shown or if there will be a new series. So congratulations to Sara, Babs, Lloyd, Fredrick, Chopper, and Dylan for winning Making the Band 2. MTV wishes them all the best of luck and hopes they make it down the long road to stardom.
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