Da Band

Da Band was a hip hop group put together by P. Diddy.

Career

During the preliminary period, 40,000 participants auditioned for a place in the group but Diddy narrowed it down to six artists.^[1] For several weeks the group was subjected to vigorous and sometime demeaning tasks, including walking from midtown Manhattan to Brooklyn to purchase a Junior's cheesecake for Diddy, and Ness' battle with the Harlem rapper Jae Millz. The group's story was documented by three seasons of MTV's Making the Band 2 reality series. Their first album, Too Hot for TV, was released in September 2003.

After Da Band

On the season three finale, the group effectively ended when Diddy dissolved them and chose to keep Ness, Babs and Chopper "Young City" on the label. Ness and Babs were to be a duo^[2] and Chopper was to be a solo artist on Bad Boy South.^[2] Chopper eventually left the label and was followed by Babs some time later, leaving Ness the group's only member still signed to Bad Boy. Ness has worked as a songwriter for Diddy on albums such as Press Play (2006). The group (minus Dylan, who was played by Chappelle and appeared via footage) parodied what they went through during the filming of Making the Band 2 on Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy show The Chappelle Show. The group members have since been working on solo projects and have maintained good relationships with each other. Sara Stokes throughout her break continued to record new music, teaming up with the music producer James Worthy to improve her sound. Stokes released a single entitled "Sneak Peek", featuring Babs. Chopper and Ness were involved in a long-standing dispute but that seems to have been settled.^[3] According to Dylan, the group was talking about reuniting but Chopper is apparently not yet on board.^[4]

Band members

• Sara Stokes (born June 1, 1977) - a Port Huron R&B singer^[1]
• Dylan Dilinjah (born Dylan John on February 8, 1980) - a Brooklyn reggae vocalist^[1]
• Chopper "Young City" (born Kevin Barnes^[3][5][6] in 1987) - a New Orleans MC (Chopper recorded under the alias of Rodney Hill^[1] in an attempt to avoid prosecution by the law.)
• Babs (born Lynese Wiley in 1979) - an MC from Brooklyn^[1]
• E. Ness (born Lloyd Mathis in 1977) - an MC from Philadelphia^[1]
• Freddy P (born Freddrick Watson in 1981) - a Miami MC^[1]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Da Band at AllMusic
• Bad Boy's Da' Band at MTV
• Babs' official Music Myspace
• Sara's official Music Myspace
• Sara's Music
• Dylan's official Music Myspace