Taken from www.daveyd.com:
Making Da Band or Makin' Da Exploitation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other day I was in LA chilling with my man Fidel Rodriguez of Divine Forces Radio [KPFK 90.7]. He started breaking down the science behind MTV's marketing strategy with their hit series 'Making Da Band' which featured P-Diddy. He noted how MTV had skillfully used the real life image of 2 black men beating up each other to be the main draw to the show.
If folks may recall almost every hour on the hour, MTV would air highlights of this fight between Ness and Fred for several weeks before the actual episode aired. Yes, fights happen all the time. Yes, the fellas eventually came together. Yes, none got seriously hurt... But in the past when MTV aired it's reality shows i.e. 'The Real World' or 'Road Rules', any sort of assault along the magnitude of the ones that took place between Ness and Fred would've been grounds for immediate expulsion.
The producers would've had a meeting and folks would've been bounced. End of story. The underlying message would be crystal clear... You can have conflict. You can be catty and disagree but you ain't gonna sit up and fight each other three times and damn near choke someone to death. Why was the exception made this time?
Was it because they were Hip Hoppers and all Hip Hoppers fight and have beef? Was it because they were young Black males from the hood where fights occur daily? What sort of message was being conveyed all around the world and throughout the country? Was it Black folks can't get along or solve conflicts without resorting to violence? Was a message sent to young folks that in order to make it you got to be violent in your response?
Fights occur all over the place.. heck, they even took place on the 'Real World', but with a zero tolerance policy in effect, we never saw it on TV.. And it wasn't marketed as the main reason to tune in..Here it was different...
The marketing of Fred and Ness pounding each other may have been a throwback to the days of slavery where young black males who were called bucks were pitted against each other for sport. Sadly this sort of thing takes place routinely in prisons around the country where correction officers stage fights between rival groups.
Lets not negate the very real connection between the on going 'marketed' drama between rivals 50 Cent and Ja Rule where people have actually died and the slugfest that took place on Makin Da Band..
something to think about
Davey D
Below is what my man Ooh Papi from playahata.com had to say to say about this..
========================
Papi rants about Making Da Band
Making the Exploitation - Season Finale was Wed Sept 10th @9pm
written by Ooh_Papi of Playahata.com
[email protected]
I have kids, so sometimes I have to watch things I would not normally watch.
This past weekend the kids, nieces and nephews kept the dial on MTV.
I just recently returned from Puerto Rico and I am in still in my relax mode ,so any thing the young people want to watch I say yes to it, unless it has nudity.
MTV showed what probably added up to a whole season of Making Da Band 2 this weekend. I saw about 10 episodes and all I can say is that somebody should call the department of Child Welfare on both MTV and Puffy. That was the most exploitive “reality show” I ever saw. Come to think of it those were young adults not children so don’t call Child Welfare. I guess, I think child because the one named Frederick still sucks his thumb like a infant..
MTV showed more hours of fighting and conflict than they did hours of music even Combs admits "You really haven't seen a lot of music, you seen a lot of fights and a lot of dysfuctionalism, but you really ain't hear the music”. I should have known that would be the case afterall the MTV marketing reads “this Making the Band is pure hip-hop. P-Diddy has built a music empire from the ground up and now he's setting his sights on this group of rap roughnecks. What happens once the band is made and six talented, passionate artists start recording a record? Will they become the next big thing in hip-hop or spontaneously combust amidst personal turmoil? In a treacherous industry like the music biz, anything can happen”.
Brawling
The Frederick and Ness fight were allowed to go on and encouraged. MTV had them broken up only when they realized that Ness was about to “go to sleep” after the choke hold Frederick had on him. Lawsuits could have resulted despite any contract they signed with MTV. If not for that obvious problem, they might still be fighting. At one point P-Diddy’s manservant slave nicknamed Mr.Bently purposely left the area so they could fight. Some reason at least they not shooting and I know they miss the point. However if they were shooting Frederick might become famous a even more “famous rapper” and God Know Frederick doesn’t want any fame maybe a little infamy but no fame please.
According to him the fights were really a misrepresentation by MTV. Words from Frederick on the fights- That’s how the TV made it [look]. Some of the fighting only took place the first two or three weeks we were there. But it's all good. At the end of the show y'all see how we all joined together how it came along and how well developed the album is.
$$$$$$$ Robbery
How about the shitty contract they signed. Da Band’s manager who by the way is P-Diddys manager (What kind of Jerry Heller nonsense is that) gave them, not negotiated but gave them a contract of three percentage points they'd receive on every dollar their record makes. Somebody call *Wendy Day immediately and tell her what happened! Oh she knows already. What did she say then she said Wendy said, “Who is the scumbag behind that show? Puh-lease, it ought to be called 'Making Rich Power Mongers Richer' ... And you can quote me." My sentiments exactly, of course they present them the contract near the end of the shooting, filming and tell them sign this or everything is over. They dead wrong for that. All of them wanted to sign it eagerly except Sara who they claimed wasn’t hip hop yeah she doesn’t want to be exploited, so she isn’t hip hop . Their so-called manager never mentioned to them they have to (repay) costs such as the recording budget, the advance, half of the price of the videos, and half of all of the independent promotions. I also couldn’t believe how crazy they were going over what appeared to be only 10k each. Ten thousand bucks aint nothing even if you are only 19. I hope that they can at least go gold, if not there goes their credit history at very tender ages. Hope they ready to tour for 7 months straight. Then maybe they can break even. Sara is a lil older and much wiser than the rest of them. The rest all wanted to live ghetto fabulous and never even read the contracts.
I was personally angered when after getting the checks Mr. Bentley took them downtown Manhattan to Jacob the Jeweler to investigate buying platinum chains and diamonds. Of course he showed them items like pinky rings which cost 20k.They claim they come from poverty and needed this for esteem and hood credibility. Where are the parents ?? fellow parents stand up most of this embarrassment is also your fault.
No more TV for my kids this week school is back in.
*Wendy Day, CEO of Rap Coalition - a non-profit organization aimed at the unfair exploitation of artists in the music industry. www.rapcoalition.org
Making Da Band or Makin' Da Exploitation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other day I was in LA chilling with my man Fidel Rodriguez of Divine Forces Radio [KPFK 90.7]. He started breaking down the science behind MTV's marketing strategy with their hit series 'Making Da Band' which featured P-Diddy. He noted how MTV had skillfully used the real life image of 2 black men beating up each other to be the main draw to the show.
If folks may recall almost every hour on the hour, MTV would air highlights of this fight between Ness and Fred for several weeks before the actual episode aired. Yes, fights happen all the time. Yes, the fellas eventually came together. Yes, none got seriously hurt... But in the past when MTV aired it's reality shows i.e. 'The Real World' or 'Road Rules', any sort of assault along the magnitude of the ones that took place between Ness and Fred would've been grounds for immediate expulsion.
The producers would've had a meeting and folks would've been bounced. End of story. The underlying message would be crystal clear... You can have conflict. You can be catty and disagree but you ain't gonna sit up and fight each other three times and damn near choke someone to death. Why was the exception made this time?
Was it because they were Hip Hoppers and all Hip Hoppers fight and have beef? Was it because they were young Black males from the hood where fights occur daily? What sort of message was being conveyed all around the world and throughout the country? Was it Black folks can't get along or solve conflicts without resorting to violence? Was a message sent to young folks that in order to make it you got to be violent in your response?
Fights occur all over the place.. heck, they even took place on the 'Real World', but with a zero tolerance policy in effect, we never saw it on TV.. And it wasn't marketed as the main reason to tune in..Here it was different...
The marketing of Fred and Ness pounding each other may have been a throwback to the days of slavery where young black males who were called bucks were pitted against each other for sport. Sadly this sort of thing takes place routinely in prisons around the country where correction officers stage fights between rival groups.
Lets not negate the very real connection between the on going 'marketed' drama between rivals 50 Cent and Ja Rule where people have actually died and the slugfest that took place on Makin Da Band..
something to think about
Davey D
Below is what my man Ooh Papi from playahata.com had to say to say about this..
========================
Papi rants about Making Da Band
Making the Exploitation - Season Finale was Wed Sept 10th @9pm
written by Ooh_Papi of Playahata.com
[email protected]
I have kids, so sometimes I have to watch things I would not normally watch.
This past weekend the kids, nieces and nephews kept the dial on MTV.
I just recently returned from Puerto Rico and I am in still in my relax mode ,so any thing the young people want to watch I say yes to it, unless it has nudity.
MTV showed what probably added up to a whole season of Making Da Band 2 this weekend. I saw about 10 episodes and all I can say is that somebody should call the department of Child Welfare on both MTV and Puffy. That was the most exploitive “reality show” I ever saw. Come to think of it those were young adults not children so don’t call Child Welfare. I guess, I think child because the one named Frederick still sucks his thumb like a infant..
MTV showed more hours of fighting and conflict than they did hours of music even Combs admits "You really haven't seen a lot of music, you seen a lot of fights and a lot of dysfuctionalism, but you really ain't hear the music”. I should have known that would be the case afterall the MTV marketing reads “this Making the Band is pure hip-hop. P-Diddy has built a music empire from the ground up and now he's setting his sights on this group of rap roughnecks. What happens once the band is made and six talented, passionate artists start recording a record? Will they become the next big thing in hip-hop or spontaneously combust amidst personal turmoil? In a treacherous industry like the music biz, anything can happen”.
Brawling
The Frederick and Ness fight were allowed to go on and encouraged. MTV had them broken up only when they realized that Ness was about to “go to sleep” after the choke hold Frederick had on him. Lawsuits could have resulted despite any contract they signed with MTV. If not for that obvious problem, they might still be fighting. At one point P-Diddy’s manservant slave nicknamed Mr.Bently purposely left the area so they could fight. Some reason at least they not shooting and I know they miss the point. However if they were shooting Frederick might become famous a even more “famous rapper” and God Know Frederick doesn’t want any fame maybe a little infamy but no fame please.
According to him the fights were really a misrepresentation by MTV. Words from Frederick on the fights- That’s how the TV made it [look]. Some of the fighting only took place the first two or three weeks we were there. But it's all good. At the end of the show y'all see how we all joined together how it came along and how well developed the album is.
$$$$$$$ Robbery
How about the shitty contract they signed. Da Band’s manager who by the way is P-Diddys manager (What kind of Jerry Heller nonsense is that) gave them, not negotiated but gave them a contract of three percentage points they'd receive on every dollar their record makes. Somebody call *Wendy Day immediately and tell her what happened! Oh she knows already. What did she say then she said Wendy said, “Who is the scumbag behind that show? Puh-lease, it ought to be called 'Making Rich Power Mongers Richer' ... And you can quote me." My sentiments exactly, of course they present them the contract near the end of the shooting, filming and tell them sign this or everything is over. They dead wrong for that. All of them wanted to sign it eagerly except Sara who they claimed wasn’t hip hop yeah she doesn’t want to be exploited, so she isn’t hip hop . Their so-called manager never mentioned to them they have to (repay) costs such as the recording budget, the advance, half of the price of the videos, and half of all of the independent promotions. I also couldn’t believe how crazy they were going over what appeared to be only 10k each. Ten thousand bucks aint nothing even if you are only 19. I hope that they can at least go gold, if not there goes their credit history at very tender ages. Hope they ready to tour for 7 months straight. Then maybe they can break even. Sara is a lil older and much wiser than the rest of them. The rest all wanted to live ghetto fabulous and never even read the contracts.
I was personally angered when after getting the checks Mr. Bentley took them downtown Manhattan to Jacob the Jeweler to investigate buying platinum chains and diamonds. Of course he showed them items like pinky rings which cost 20k.They claim they come from poverty and needed this for esteem and hood credibility. Where are the parents ?? fellow parents stand up most of this embarrassment is also your fault.
No more TV for my kids this week school is back in.
*Wendy Day, CEO of Rap Coalition - a non-profit organization aimed at the unfair exploitation of artists in the music industry. www.rapcoalition.org
