In light of the Millenium Tour headlining the anticipated 2019 OVO Fest and yet another X-Men movie, the 2000s is reaching for a comeback. Considering how that era exemplified the prime of pop culture and reality TV, I don’t think any of us are fighting it. Recently, Bad Boy pioneer Diddy plugged a video of himself on Instagram contemplating the return of the classic Making the Band series. Although he was initially hesitant, an extensive social media response was all he needed to cosign the show’s return. After creating an #IWantMyMTB hashtag, Puff most likely spent the next few days reviewing requests from thousands ranging from Wale to Wendy’s, giving MTV enough time to get their bag right. In just a week Diddy announced that Making the Band indeed will be returning; for those who remember, this show was reality TV gold.
Making the Band walked so that shows like The Masked Singer and The Four could run. We’ve seen a number of music competition shows touch the television airways, but very few have been responsible for as many pop culture moments as Making the Band. Seeing people rap or sing their hearts out will forever be entertaining, but those moments are quickly forgotten. A decade later, infamous moments from Making the Band are still lingering in our heads. It’s been a little over 10 years since the last Making the Band season, but the return announcement shows instant promise.
Following the announcement of the shows return, Diddy took to social media prompting any artist to audition using the #MTBCasting hashtag. The return of Making the Band will air on MTV in 2020 and despite the fact that Diddy was hesitant to bring the series back, I think he’s already made the right decision. Here are a few moments that made Making the Band a classic.
The Early Morning Living Room Sing-Off
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If you’ve seen the first two seasons with Da Band and Danity Kane, you would know that this man Diddy loves battles. In Making the Band 4, featuring Day 26, P. Diddy requests a morning living room competition between the “new guys” and the “old guys”. Through a fight for their positions, Day 26’s Brian got in his bag, and one of the greatest R&B sing-offs of all time commenced right there in that house.
Babs Versus Sara's Husband Tony
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During Making the Band 2, Sara’s husband Tony got a little out of pocket. The cast often had family and friends around the studio, but Tony became a little too outspoken for the group. Although Sara kept her mouth shut, Babs couldn’t hold her breath and found herself checking Tony back into his place. This would not be the first nor last time Tony garnered some ill feelings from the group. "Sitting behind a desk… You feel like you’re Puff. N**** you’re not," Babs said as he left the studio.
The Infamous Cheesecake Mission
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Diddy’s grind began as an intern at Uptown Records, where he was given countless missions by Andre Harrell. In fact Harrell has specifically recalled the time Diddy ran 10 blocks to deliver a tape to Unique Studios. As someone who worked his butt off as an intern, best believe he kept that same energy on Making the Band 2. Before Da Band hopped in the studio, he sent them on a trek to Brooklyn to grab him a slice of cheesecake from Junior’s. The group was prohibited to use subways and taxis, meaning walking was the only acceptable method. But this time around, Diddy sent them to walk 10 miles rather than the 10 blocks he had to do as an intern. The group tried to fight the task, but we all could assume how that moment ended. They got that slice of cheesecake.
Babs Spazzing on Ness
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In Making the Band 2, Diddy elected Ness as Da Band’s group leader. And of course, the point person often takes the most heat. In this round, he faced off against Babs, who clearly wasn’t playing when it came to her hair. Ness prohibited Babs from moving forward with the hair appointment she needed for the video shoot; they both got tired of the back and forth and even had Fonzworth Bentley in the middle separating the two with his bow tie on…
Aubrey O’Day Forever Challenging Diddy
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Danity Kane was the series’ first (and only) all-girl group, headed by the most notable Dawn Richardson and Aubrey O’Day. Working behind a person with such high status can be quite intimidating, but Aubrey wasn’t having that. She squared off with Diddy a few times, refusing to bite her tongue in what sparked a feud that seems still present today on her end. As risky as it was, her speaking her truth led to some head-turning moments on the show.
“Dy-lan, Dy-lan, Dy-lan, Dy-lan, Dy-lan”
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If we asked you to name the top five emcees of all time, you would probably name everyone but Making the Band 2’s Dylan Dili. Throughout his time on the show, Dylan was often about himself and not the group. One day while filming, Dylan was asked to leave the house, and in his absence, Dave Chappelle came in and directed his own personal skit about Dylan’s overly confident attitude, Dylan told Vice. “Who are the five best rappers of all time? Think about it. Dy-lan, Dy-lan, Dy-lan, Dy-lan, and Dy-lan. Because I spit hot fire,” Chappelle joked. But that’s actually the exact attitude we remember Dylan having.
