Do y’all remember Diddy’s “Making the Band” on MTV?! It was like American Idol meets The Real World. The concept of the show was having thousands from across the country go to an audition to be in a Rap, Pop, or R&B group. Then, judges narrowed it down to a certain number of people and put them all in a house with a camera crew to see which ones would and could endure the boot camp style vocal coaching and dance lessons and “make the band”. Sounds intense, but it made for great TV! I remember when the show aired in the early 2000’s and talking about what happened on the show the next day at school. This was before Instagram was invented, before Twitter hashtags, and when Facebook was only for college students. I remember classmates being passionate about who would and wouldn’t make the band and who their favorite members were in the musical groups: Danity Kane, Da Band, and Day 26. 
Recently, as I watched Diddy’s “CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP” music documentary on Apple Music. Sean “Puffy”/”Diddy” Combs was an intern and A&R exec at Mr. Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records, yet was eventually fired. When this happened Diddy started his own Bad Boy Record Label in the early 90’s. I began to wonder what would have happened if all these groups/ Bad Boy Records artists would have lasted. When I see groups in 2017 like Fifth Harmony, Migos, and ABC’s Boy Band I immediately think of the Making the Band Reality series. 
There was so much talented displayed on the show, but not everyone made the band. Some people could sing, but couldn’t dance. Some could dance, but couldn’t sing, and some could do both, but personalities didn’t fit a group dynamic. I recall choreographer, Laurieann “Boom Kack” Gibson, yelling at the future band members was always funny to me. And who could forget the time Diddy made Da Band walk all those blocks to get him some cheesecake to see how passionate they were about having time in the studio to record?! What are your memories of the reality tv series “Making the Band”? Do you think the show will ever make a comeback or if MTV will ever release the series on DVD or a streaming service? I could go on for days, but here’s a playlist to recall those moments in time. Also, there are a few YouTube clips from the series. Check them out when you have the chance.
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