O1LT.COM SPECIAL REPORT-"REALITY CHECK"!!!!!!!

Reality Check!
Written By L.T. Dinwiddie

I love the ‘Making The Band’ series, and I already have my two favorites from this season: New Orleans, Dawn, and Atlanta’s own D.Woods. But reality shows, and music acts mixed together don’t work!! With the exception of American Idol, reality shows take away the mystery of the artist, and the only reason why American Idol is working is because we don’t see the behind the scenes shenanigans that go on. MTV has had successful ratings with all the M.T.B. seasons, but Sean "Puffy/Diddy" Combs hasn’t had much success on the album charts. The premise of his show is great, you get the behind the scenes look at how groups are formed, but at the same time it’s not so great because you get the behinds the scenes look on how groups are formed. We are all front row to the insecurities, cat fights, attitudes, backstabbing, and childish antics that go on. In my opinion it takes away the mystery, and shows these girls as “regular” people, but we don’t want “regular” people, we want stars. Take this season for example. Puffy is trying to form his second (sorry ‘Dream’) all girl group to feel the void now that Destiny’s Child is no longer. He went through a difficult first season/second edition, going virtually state to state to find five “it” girls. When I say “he” of course I don’t mean Diddy (he’s much to “fly” for that), I meant his peoples: Laurie Ann, Andre Harrell, and Johnny Wright. After many months, and painstaking auditions which proved to be the hardest some of the girls had ever been apart of, he found and is forming his all girl group. There is one problem, two of them cant sing, one has a serious skin problem, the other has thighs for days, one is married (who the hell gets married and tries to be the next Destiny’s Child or TLC??), and the last one is so boring you could take disco naps when the camera is on her. I hate to say it but this group has no je ne sais quoi about them. They aren’t bad because they have more talent then most, but that isn’t enough. They need to be the total package, and I hate to say it Danity Kane, (what the hell is up with the name anyway?) isn’t it. Their new song ‘Show Stopper’LISTEN HERE isn’t believable: ”We in the car, we ride slow we doing things that the girls don’t do. The boys stare we smile back, all my girls in the Range Rover Cadillac’s “Yea!” What?????? As a fan and music critic I don’t believe them and if I don’t most people won’t either. They’re going to have to come with something better then this if they are to have at least a quarter of what D.C. and TLC had.

Now when we talk about MTB; season one/first edition, and season two/first edition, I truly felt that was talent. Hip-Hop is an art form that can’t be faked. You either got skills or you don’t. Freddie P. Babs Bunny, Chopper (Young City), Dylan, and Elliot Ness were on top of their game. Sarah was just a hook singer, and wasn’t given the opportunity to showcase her talent therefore I don’t know how good she truly was. But again the reason why the group wasn’t a success was because we saw all the behind the scenes nonsense. From Dylan going back and fourth to his probation officer, to Freddie P sucking his damn thumb, and fighting E. Ness, to watching Sarah try to hold down her family and respect her husband yet be the sex symbol of a group. They were doomed from the start. Though their CD ‘To Hot For T.V’ was off the hook. I still blast that album to this day, but the show blocked their talent because we felt like we knew them, and we watched a record deal basically handed to them. That caused a lot of resentment from industry insiders, and outsiders. They were labeled “spoiled” the album flopped and where are they now? E.ness, Babs, and Young are supposedly still affiliated with Bad Boy yet I haven’t heard anything official. It seems when the show ended so did they. Be wary aspiring singers, dancers, and musicians. If you are an artist trying to get into the game, avoid reality shows. They will do you more harm then good. Though it’s great TV, once the shows over so is your career.