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R&B group and ex-Bad Boy Records artists Day26 allege that Diddy's former MTV music competition Making the Band wasn't designed for them to find post-show success.
Like numerous former Bad Boy artists have expressed since the rapper, producer and music mogul was accused of sexual assault, racketeering and sex trafficking, Day26 claims that following the show, the label didn't support them. The group, who released their fifth album, Day Ones last August, appeared on the radio program The Breakfast Club this week and detailed their version of what happened after their time on Making the Band.
"Just the way the whole thing was set up, like, even from the contracts," said Day26 member Brian Andrews around the four-minute mark of the video below. "The way it was structured when the cameras were gone it was like, 'Alright guys, it was nice knowing you."
Robert Curry added that the group had to "fight" for their next deal with songwriters and producers like Brian-Michael Cox and Troy Taylor encouraging Bad Boy to promote Day26.
"That's what it took for us to even get in the door to do another project," Curry explained. They wasn't worried about us like that. It was for what it was for."
Jumping in was Willie Taylor, who said he was already "ten years in" with songwriting and was signed to Wyclef Jean, while Andrews was at Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment.
"We learned everything we knew from this situation, but it was
was vets in the game," said Curry. "We had to get bought out of our contracts."
As to why they opted to be on Making the Band, Taylor said that it was because "you got your foot in but you ain't all the way where you want to go."
"I think that was more of a chance and we just took it," he added.
For Curry, he'd "always" wanted to be signed to Bad Boy, having been a fan of the label since childhood. "It's like going after something that you've been going after all your life and it being right there, you might do some things that you wouldn't normally do," he said.
On previous Making the Band winners Danity Kane, Curry explained that the girl group didn't give them much insight into Bad Boy, as they were also early in their careers. Curry also said that Day26 "had a hard time breaking into radio" due to believing the group was a "gimmick for TV."
"People really didn't give us the chance for us musically," Taylor added. "They was like, 'Yo, y'all coming to places and people coming to see y'all and y'all selling things out, but y'all don't have a record that was pushing."
Previous Making the Band members to accuse Diddy of sexual harassment and overseeing a toxic workplace were Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard and D. Woods, all of Danity Kane. Woods appeared on ABC News this week and claimed that Diddy placed her in "dark, scary, predatory spaces" and would say "the most degrading things" to her.
Diddy is awaiting trial on allegations of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has been jailed since September of last year.
English (US) ·