Well, this week Making The Band 2's series finale aired, and I felt overcome with a surprising amount of sadness over the whole thing. I mean, they kept a pretty good lid on the fact that it was over, considering that the last season must've been done shooting weeks, if not months ago, and I had no idea they'd been disbanded until the ads for the last episode started showing a couple weeks ago. They must've had some serious clauses in their contracts to keep them from bitching to the press until the episode aired.

Da Band: Where Did It All Go Wrong?

...ok, that's a stupid question. When I first heard Diddy was gonna do a hip hop MTB, I knew it was a bad idea, because think about it: every rap group of more than 2 or 3 people that has ever amounted to anything was all from the same hood, knew each other way before the fame, and even then sometimes they can't keep it together. So pulling together 6 random people who all wanted to be solo stars and telling them to share the shine, no, that's not gonna happen.

I didn't really start watching until the 2nd season, so I have no idea how they were picked or if the competition was really as pathetic as it must've been, but man, what was Diddy smoking? He must've really wanted a token dancehall dude bad for all the strings he pulled to keep Dylan out of jail, and put up with his shit for as long as he did.

That said, I did find myself rooting for them, I really did. "Bad Boy This, Bad Boy That" was a fucking BLAZING song, I listed it as something like my #8 favorite single of 2003. This season was pretty depressing though, watching them lose their drive while working on the 2nd album. A couple episodes ago, there was a great scene where Diddy sat down in his office to listen to the new tracks, and he'd stop every song after 30 seconds and complain about the hook. He should've been more worried about the beats, though, it sounded like Tommy Dofat heard "Zone Out" from God's Son and decided that was his shit. Didn't he produce "Bad Boy This"? If so, much respect to him, but I think Diddy should've been more willing to hook Da Band up with hotter producers than whoever he's got over at Bad Boy plus fucking Wyclef.

Earlier this season, when Ness was really showing some initiative and being the one dude in the studio nonstop, my respect grew for him. Last season, I liked to make fun of him for being the most generic throwback-wearing punchline MC who's almost fat enough to be in the Lox, and the few times they showed him rapping, he was doing some stupid rhyme where he goes "HANG GLIDE WIT IT". But I give him credit for being the one who got his grind on, he's the only member of Da Band that I've actually been seeing pop up on mixtapes doing freestyles with established MC's, even before the album dropped. So I'm glad that he was one of the 2 members that Diddy decided to keep on Bad Boy. He may end up being another one album wonder like G. Dep or Black Rob, but he's got drive, and if this series has shown anything, that's what really counts.

Also, in a recent episode, there was a scene where Ness went home to Philly to see his newborn son, and the music playing in the background is the "Song Cry" beat, and it's a really sweet, touching moment. And then, you hear Jay go "most incredible, baby!", like he's talking about Ness's premature infant. The editors who work at MTV are fucking insane.

Ness was kind of a no-brainer for Diddy to keep, but I was surprised that the other one he kept was Babs. I mean, what little I've heard of her rapping has sounded good, but it's hard enough for labels to break female MC's with sex appeal, a hood rat like her doesn't stand a chance. Or maybe that's what's different about her that will make her stand out, I don't know. But by this season, she had definitely become the biggest comic relief of the group, getting her hair done in the kitchen for some reason (!), and every time there was a meeting, she was all, "but I gotta get my nails done". And don't even get me started on Fred and Choppa.

Some of the best moments of the finale:

* Diddy walking around the Bad Boy offices in the fur coat from the "Rubber Band Man" video

* Diddy showing up at the party with 2 bottles of champagne, telling Da Band "no holes in my walls, you break it you pay"

* Diddy asking everyone about Dylan, asks Choppa when was the last time he heard from Dylan, and Choppa replies: "Neveruary"

Goodbye, Da Band. Thanks for the good times. See you neveruary.