Whether fetching cheesecake at Junior's, fist-fighting in the studio, or getting swamped by fans at the mall, Da Band made a big impact on pop culture, thanks to their zany antics on three seasons of MTV's reality show Making The Band. After over 40,000 kids auditioned, P. Diddy chose the final six members: Ness (the most skilled emcee), Fred (the thumb-sucking guy), Young City aka Chopper (New Orleans ladies man), Babs (fire-spitter out of Brooklyn), Dylan (the ragamuffin cat) and Sara (the frustrated singer/mom). Audiences tuned in every week to watch the crew record their debut album, play their first shows, squander their advances on flashy jewelry, argue a lot, and get berated by Diddy. Musically, they sound much like other second-string artists on Bad Boy, with straightforward rhymes about getting paid, doing dirt in the streets, and wilding out in the club. Their first album, Too Hot For T.V., dropped in 2003 and did fairly well, spawning the single "Bad Boy This, Bad Boy That" (though it's doubtful that anyone of legal drinking age was really checking for it). At the end of the show's third season, a fed-up Diddy broke up Da Band and kicked them all out of his Park Avenue crib. He kept Ness and Babs on contract, while Sara attempted a modeling career and Dylan dropped a little-heard mix tape.
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