Making the Grade

We've been bombarded with a bunch of new reality TV shows lately, most of which were expunged to the summer season because they stink. The problem is that most reality shows now are romance elimination contests, but the best reality shows are behind-the-scenes documentaries. One great example of this is MTV's Making the Band 2. The second season follow's the six hip-hop dreamers as they struggle to come together as a group, record an album and become part of the Bad Boy family. But the real drama is the unending hazing being inflicted by P. Diddy, their patriarch/tyrant. After making them walk four hours across New York City for a slice of cheesecake, Diddy forced his minions to stand outside a building reading aloud Russell Simmons's autobiography. As he keeps saying, becoming a hip-hop star is not a game. The artists are near mutiny, not to mention all the intra-group squabbles that are constantly simmering. I highly recommend you catch this revealing, entertaining look at the rap game.