Way back in 2002, Making the Band 2 was hardly a cakewalk…or, more accurately, a cheesecake walk.
As fans of the show will remember, Da Band — made up of Sara Stokes, Dylan Dilinjah, Frederick “Freddy P” Watson, Rodney “Chopper” Hill, Lloyd “Ness” Mathis, and Lynese “Babs” Wiley — thought that winning the show’s competition and earning a record contract meant there was smooth celeb-sailing ahead. Big bossman Diddy, though, quickly cut them down to size, and in the #TBT clip below, he decides he’s hungry for a little cheesecake — and chooses his five hip-hop proteges as his makeshift waitstaff.
In the video, Diddy challenges the group to walk all the way from Midtown Manhattan to Brooklyn’s famous Junior’s, renowned for its cheesecake (according to Google Maps, it’s no less than a five-mile trip, complete with a trek over the Manhattan Bridge). And while Diddy’s task seems cold (literally speaking, too, as the segment was filmed as winter in New York approached), he insisted there was a lesson worth learning.
“It’s not about me trying to do a mean-spirited initiation hazing act,” Diddy says in the clip below. “There’s a bigger picture to it. In the world of music, I have to get up every day and do a bunch of sh*t I don’t wanna do.”
But Da Band hardly takes kindly to the task, with some members threatening to jump ship.
“If I’m going to Brooklyn, I’m going the f*ck home,” Babs says, tears streaming down her face. “That’s where the f*ck I live!”
The group proceeds to put up a fight, insisting to Diddy that the mission is just a punitive method of humiliation. But the Bad Boy boss makes things very clear: Any protests are signs of the group’s ego taking over, and if they decide against the walk, they’ll be dismissed from the label immediately.
And so, there’s a little bit more crying, complaining and a few incredulous smiles. Finally, though, the group goes — for hours and hours — until the cheesecake is procured.
And just when it seems like the horror is over, Babs drops a slice onto the sidewalk, leaving the crust crumbled and the filling spilling out into the container.
By then, Junior’s is closed, and all hope seems lost. But a benevolent Junior’s manager reopens the door, a substitute slice is secured, and all is good with the world again.
Check out a classic (and deliciously infamous) MTB moment below, and stay with MTV News for upcoming show-related developments!
