Making The Band 4
Posted by: kayode on June 21, 2007 at 4:56 pm
 Damn you, Diddy!! First you have the nerve to be caught staring down the chest of my lovely Jessica Biel, now you’ve got me hooked on yet another season of Making the Band! You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. We all should have. But dammit if Diddy hasn’t taken this show and made a delightful novelty out of it. Now, I’ve always found the show to be remarkably flawed from a conceptual standpoint. From the first incarnation, with Lou “I’ve got some prime Florida swampland to sell you!” Perlman, the man behind the Backstreet Boys and N*Sync, Making the Band gave away too many trade secrets. It was like seeing how hot dogs are made, and discovering that the process is worse than you could ever imagine. It certainly didn’t help that the O-Town’s first single was called “Liquid Dreams”. Once that group was dead and buried, Diddy (I think he was still “P”. Diddy at this point) took over the show, promising to succeed where the first group failed. The sheer hyperbole is so laughable, there’s no way for you to not be entertained. Focusing on creating a premiere hip-hop/r&b group, Diddy selected five rappers and a singer to become. . . Da Band! What creativity, what innovation, what the fuck?!?!? That’s the best name you could come up with?!? I guess you can’t expect much from Bad Boy when they’ve had a group unfortunately named after a cereal!! But honestly, how much could we expect from Da Band? Especially when one member had a penchant for sucking his thumb?! That ain’t gangsta!! About the only legacies left behind by those hooligans are the countless rappers who still reference Diddy making them walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn for cheesecake, and one of the funniest Chappelle Show skits of all-time!! Realizing that the only thing worse than a pre-fab singing group is a pre-fab rap group, Diddy decided to try his luck at putting together a girl group. For what it’s worth, the ladies of Danity Kane are much easier on the eyes and ears than that group with the cereal-based name. But let’s face it, that ain’t sayin’ much, and no one’s waiting for their next album. Like every other reality show, the end product of Making The Band is irrelevant. The fun is in the show itself, and seeing what goes into creating what will ultimately be a disposable product. The drama, the pomp and arrogance, the emotional breakdowns, etc. It’s fun to see these people chase after a dream like a rabbit running after a carrot hung from a fishing pole. And once again, Diddy’s got my dumb ass hooked! This time around, things have pretty much come full circle, as the music mogul sets out to create a male pop/r&b group destined to dominate the charts. . . . at least for that first week after their album drops. With the premiere episode, you ALMOST get the impression Diddy’s not dickin’ around this time. In addition to his regular crew of producers, vocal coaches, and choreographer Laurie Ann Robinson, Diddy’s even wrangled New Edition member and Boyz II Men mastermind Michael Bivens. Sure enough, we got a whole rack of dudes belting out “End of the Road” during the auditions. For the most part, the preliminary auditions phases were pretty standard. There were a lot of good singers, but not necessarily great singers. When we’re talking r&b, I set the bar pretty high, and unless you’re a good all-around musician, I probably won’t pay much attention to you. As with all reality shows, though, you eventually get the weirdoes. For my money, nothing’s weirder than the forty year-old white dude in a Coogi sweater belting out old-school Stevie Wonder. But who do we root for? Who do we hate with a fiery passion? After picking somewhere around sixty or so guys from about five cities, Diddy’s team starts going to work on seeing who’s gonna learn the most if selected for the top twenty. One of the standouts, right from the beginning, is Dan, a husky white dude who really knows how to hit the high notes AND can dance his ever-lovin’ ass off. It’s hard not to be impressed by him. Then there’s Michael, another husky boy, but he’s far more hindered by his weight than Dan, and Diddy makes it clear that he’s gonna have to whip things into shape to keep up with everyone else. Naturally, you’ve got the choirboy, as Julius goes against his reverend father’s wishes to pursue his dreams (awwww!!). Frankly, I found him a little boring, and at the moment, he can’t dance worth a damn. Ultimately, they all make the top twenty, but it’s Korean immigrant Sam (hailing from the DC-Metro area, like yours truly), that really put a smile on my face, and I was sad to see him go. The boy did Luther, you know who I’m talkin’ ‘bout! He did Luther, and did it GOOD! Granted, he probably didn’t have the versatility for the more upbeat pop/r&b that Diddy probably wants these guys to do, but the boy had heart! I’d have liked to see more from him. But this should be interesting, to say the least. It’ll make for damn good television, if nothing else. There will be fighting, bitching, crying, dancing, singing, and rumor has it, Diddy throws a chair at somebody!! I can’t wait! 
Categories/Tags: Because I Said So, Blogs,
25 Responses to "Making The Band 4"1 | Jon Haehnle I didn’t really watch the first episode too closely but I definitely noticed Sam. Being Asian (and from DC, holler!) too, I was sad to see him go but oh well I like the reality tv coverage — but what I’m waiting for is the Charm School finale wrap up heheh 2 | Kayode Kendall “but what I’m waiting for is the Charm School finale wrap up heheh” I had enough of them heffers after sporadically watching the first two Flavor of Love seasons. Who’s gonna watch “Rock” of Love, though? Bret Michaels’ too damn pretty, though. They needed someone like Lemmy from Motorhead, or something! 4 | Kayode Kendall It’s basically the same format as Flavor, but with Bret Michaels from Poison. Basically, it’s gonna be a lot of hair-metal groupies. 5 | Khalyn I am so disappointed in Diddy for not picking Sam. He could have made the show more interesting and diverse, but no, he had to stay lame by reasoning of- “Sam doesn’t fit into the groups visual look” Oh, really but over weight, unattractive, non groomed men do?!?! Only 6 of the 20 men are attractive or unique looking and the rest are waste of space and air time. No wonder Pussy Cat Dolls out sold Danity Kane 5 to 1, and no wonder “Push Play” was slept on. He has lost all sense of what women want and the diverse American public. TAKE A SEAT DIDDY…your reign is coming to an end. 6 | Kayode Kendall Ruben Studdard did win American Idol. And some of the most respected R&B singers in the last 30 years of popular music have been guys like Luther Vandross, Gerald Levert, and Barry White (let’s just overlook the fact that their weights probably played a factor in all their premature deaths.). You can’t really fault Diddy in that regard. When was the last time an Asian made it big in R&B in America? Not to be an ass, but it hasn’t happened yet, and I doubt Diddy was going to be the one to usher one in. Why does Pussycat Dolls outsell Danity Kane? Like I said, no matter how good the resulting album is, no one cares. The public will sooner enjoy what comes before the album. No one watches these shows ’cause they plan on buying the albums. PCD sells ’cause they’ve got far more inventive marketing and a pre-existing brand name. I mean, aside from Nicole Schwerzinger’s (heh, heh “Schwerzinger”!) fine ass, even I’ll admit seeing that someone had a made a pop group out of what is a cheesy, but well-known psuedo-burlesque show, I thought it was rather clever. That drew my attention more than anything. And most importantly, they weren’t tied to a reality show before hand. You’re not seeing the cogs of the machine at work. Your perception of them is less that they’re little more than a product. Granted, they’ve now thrown in with the other reality show whores, and nothing will become of their newest “member”. Furthermore, Danity Kane, from what I’ve seen of them, didn’t focus enough of creating a singular focal point for its audience. PCD has Nicole, Destiny’s Child had Beyonce, etc., etc., etc. It’s the cardinal rule of pop groups. Put as much effort into a “frontperson” as you can, and that’ll be enough. The last thing Danity Kane should have do is put all the girls on equal footing. The audience doesn’t know who to focus on. They’re forced to pay attention to five marginal singer/dancers. 7 | Jon Haehnle Although most of Kayode’s points in his follow-up comment are true, I’m sure that doesn’t stop plenty of girls out there from sharing Khalyn’s feelings =/ 8 | Kayode Kendall Oh, of course not. Thinking back to the original Making the Band, they had an asian guy who just missed making the final five that made up O-Town, and I always thought he was a better singer than those guys. Him and some other castoffs from the show did actually form their own group and put out an album, but I didn’t have the balls to listen to it. So believe me, if there are some asian dudes who can rock it on the R&B tip, I’d definitely support them. PS – I’m really letting my dork-flag fly with this topic, aren’t I? 9 | Kayode Kendall Wow, Chris is proof positive that Sam should have made it into the house. This kid SUCKS! And what’s worse, every time he’s gotta step up, he makes a point of letting Diddy and Co. KNOW how much he sucks!! He’s not even marginal!! He’s like REALLY bad. But Laurie (aka Boom Kat, or whatever her nickname is) loves him, ’cause he can dance. If Diddy sticks to the cardinal rule of pop groups, he might just put him through if he knows he has one or two good singers to groom as “leaders”. Oh, and poor Michael. Dru Hill may have gotten away with having a big dude in their group, but Diddy’s not having it. When he came back and asked Michael about the grilled cheese sandwiches, I was just dyin’! The look on his face was priceless. But if it’s true that he didn’t make them all for himself, one HE should have said so, and two the people he made them for should have stepped in and said something. That whole setup just seems fishy. 10 | daccari ivy what’s up you’ll, you all can can sing you’ll buts off and diddy you are doing a great job with picking the right people ecspecially that lil short dude that name is julious he can sing his but off even though he was nervous he took the chance and made it to the show if he wasn’t so nervous he would have done so much better god has blessed all of you for making it that far. good luck to all of you. 11 | Kayode Kendall Why are you responding as if this blog will come across anyone involved in the show? Diddy don’t read this blog. 13 | Need to Know Does anyone know the names of the songs that Sam sung?, i’m looking for the song name and song artist. 14 | SororSalsa Toshi Kubota is a Japanese R&B singer…he’s not big in the US, but he has put out two good albums. 17 | Kayode Kendall Which one is Julius? I’m too focused on how Chris’ non-singin’ ass still hasn’t be cut. 18 | Kayode Kendall oh yeah, church dude, Julius! Glad he’s still around, and Chris is finally gone. But damn, Diddy was pretty cold-blooded, callin’ in wringers like that! And bringing them into the house while the dudes were asleep! “Yeah, this is the bedroom, one of these beds might be yours, here’s the kitchen, the bathroom, we got a biday in there, that’s what’s up.” All things considered, I think most if not all of the audience favorites are still in the house, along with about 6 new guys, and THANK GOD, Chris is gone!! But what was up with that one dude who was like pleading with Michael Bivens?!? C’mon, man! I know you want your moment to shine on national TV, but don’t do it by crying about not being picked to be in a boy band! 20 | YEN YEA WE ALL KNO THAT CHRIS CANT SING BUT HE IS A REALLY GOOD DANCER. BESIDES THINK ABOUT IT …..WOULD SAM REALLY MAKE IT ..I MEAN HE WAS GOOD BUT HE WAS OLD…STOP HATING ON CHRIS CUZ I LUB HIM 21 | Michelle What song do the new guys sing when they r auditioning for diddy their “finals” it goes like “I cant live without u breath without u” and then Ace sings just that lil part umm “im goin crazyy” =( icant figure it outt 22 | aaa julius is so fione i wish he waz mine !!!!!!!!!!!!!! he sings really good bitches watch out hes mine okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 23 | Kayode Kendall I felt bad for Julius. Poppin’ your knee out of the socket, I can’t even begin to imagine how painful that must have been. Glad he’s still hanging around. But how they gonna keep Donnie over Dan?!?! Especially with Donnie backtalkin’ Diddy. That was more funny, than anything. And yeah, Laurie was crazy. 24 | Kayode Kendall No Carlos OR Julius for the finals?!? It’s bad enough Donnie’s gawky-lookin’ ass is still there! (See, why am I gettin’ so wrapped up in all this?!? It’s not like I’ma buy dey album any-damn-way!) 25 | Kayode Kendall Of course Diddy doesn’t make a decision about who’s gonna make the band now! Oh, no no no! You gotta vote online (not that your vote will “really” factor into Diddy’s decision, c’mon now!), and wait over two weeks for the “Live Finale” where Diddy announces who he’s chosen. What the schmackus!!! You shouldn’t have called this week’s ep the season finale, then! |
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