Danity Kane, the Making the Band 4 guys and Donnie were all on Hot 97's Miss Jones in The Morning yesterday. You can listen on the Hot 97 website.

This press release notes that Soul Diggaz will have production on the upcoming albums from Danity Kane, the Making the Band 4 guys and Donnie.

From Black Voices:


Here at Bad Boy Blog, we wish them a long and happy life together. Congrats.

We reported on this back in October but Bad Boy has officially announced the promotion of Harve Pierre to President of the company.

"Harve's promotion to President is well deserved," Diddy says. "He has been with Bad Boy since the beginning and has worked hard to learn all aspects of the business. He has always been an important part of the A&R process and it is only fitting that Bad Boy would house his imprint, Crazy Joint. I look forward to Harve's continued success."

Bad Boy and Atlantic will begin distribution of Crazy Joint in May of this year.

Watch below for a TV spot for Danity Kane and the Making the Band 4 guys.

This evening, on a conference call with the press, Danity Kane and the Making the Band 4 guys (minus Michael, who was sick), talked about their upcoming albums. Diddy and Harve Pierre also jumped on the call to share some of their thoughts on the projects.

"It's a strange time for the music industry. Even with that being said, I'm extremely excited about this time for Bad Boy. I think we've come up with a new movement - we've come up with a new form of success," Diddy said. "We're tying in television and radio and live touring with some incredible groups and some groups that have a lot of urgency."

He mentioned that their albums were finished and that they would start touring in June. He also eluded to a big Bad Boy tour (I'm trying to confirm this, however); saying, "We're comin' with that fire. We're comin' with that heat this year. We're coming with a lot of groups packaged together, so [when] we come to the cities, we have a full movement going on. So, look out for Danity Kane, Making the Band, Donnie. You got Cheri Dennis, Yung Joc, Cassie, myself coming to a city near you and this is the start of something big."

Of course, both groups have been working with Diddy to complete their albums. "Surprisingly, he's a lot more hands on than what I would have thought he'd been. He's very active in both projects. Because of him, we have some hot records," Brian said. Dawn talked about his involvement, as well. "Diddy was very involved in our record. ... He respected our vision. At the same time, we respect him for his guidance and his vision," she said.

Danity Kane's album features production from Bryan-Michael Cox, Scott Storch, The Runners, Tha Corna Boys, The Stereotypes (who produced the single, "Damaged") and Danja. Danja produced "Striptease", which is written by Danity Kane. "Is Anyone Listening" is another track that Dawn called, "very deep - very powerful." "Poetry", "Key to My Heart" and "Lights Out" will also be featured on the album. "We have some really great interludes that should be full songs," D. Woods added.

The album from the Making the Band 4 guys will feature production from Cox, Mario WInans, The Runners, Danja, Jim Beans, Kwame, Melee (not sure if I'm spelling this correctly) and Adonis.

Harve Pierre said that a Donnie single is likely going to be serviced to radio in the next four weeks. Will mentioned how Donnie has it tougher being a solo artist without group members to rely on for support. He also talked about how Donnie's project isn't really talked about as far as this season is concerned.

I asked them what they had as far as guest appearances. Both of the groups will appear on each other's albums. For the Making the Band 4 guys, Danity Kane provided vocals on "If It Wasn't For You" and "Ain't Goin'". They also mentioned that Diddy will be on their album. In what capacity, we don't know.

Danity Kane is keeping their guest features a secret. D. Woods explained, "We are definitely all over it. We have the guys involved. We cannot confirm and we will not speak on some of the other features that are in the works because it's very political. But, the name of our album that we are working with right now is called "Welcome to the Dollhouse." And the theme is like we're welcoming the audience in a little bit deeper. Yes, you've watched us on the show, you've seen us in the Making the Band houses from the first two seasons. Well, my first two seasons. But, actually three with Aubrey and Aundrea and then with me, Dawn and Shannon joining. So, we want to welcome you in a little bit more... get deeper into our heads, see all these different personalities that we can convey and all these different sides of a woman. We're very sensual, we're very emotional. And we want to welcome you into this very manufactured, constructed package that we have been in. So, that's "Welcome to the Dollhouse." It's going to be very high energy, but a lot of emotion and that's the theme we're working with."

Edit: A Bad Boy representative responded to me instantly, confirming this story.

SOHH Soul Man has this:


Janelle Monae (official website) is, according to Wikipedia a "futuristic rock singer". She released an EP album, "Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase", the first of a planned four album series. She appeared on both the Big Boi compilation, Got Purp? Vol. II and the soundtrack to Idlewild.

It looks as if this rumor has made rounds, including the Creative Loafing Atlanta blog, who points to a ConcreteLoop.com post that features photos of Diddy attending Monae's album release party in August.

The Creative Loafing Atlanta blog quotes Monae's plublicist, in November, has saying that they have no comment, but they should have an announcement ready soon. It's now almost February and it looks as though no announcement has been made. Also in November, she posted on her MySpace that a career decision was coming soon, but there was no further elaboration. So, really, this is just a rumor for now.

I've contacted both camps for comment.

I just spoke exclusively with former Bad Boy Records Senior Director of A&R, Conrad Dimanche. Yes, the rumors are true - he has resigned from the label. His final day was December 14 with his resignation being submitted around a month prior. But, the rumors are only half true, according to Dimanche.

While it is true that he left, he flat out denied that it was anything but a good, respectful parting of ways. He said that money and the work environment had nothing to do with him leaving Bad Boy. According to him, when he told Diddy and Harve Pierre of his plans to resign, they offered him a substantial pay raise to stay. When he opted to leave, they were supportive of his decision.

He told me that the reason he resigned was to focus on PMP Worldwide where he has a new role as President of the company. He's still consulting on A&R, a relationship that he says is likely to continue well into the future.

When we spoke, he was at Daddy's House working on finishing up the Danity Kane and Making the Band 4 projects. He's been grooming Daniel "Skid" Mitchell, one of the top people at Daddy's House, as his replacement. Though, no decisions have been made by Puff and co.

Mr. Dimanche expressed disappointment in the media as he tried to reach out to some outlets (he specifically named one gossip site that isn't worth mentioning) and they didn't even get back to him. He called it an example of the "media finding or making up a reason to run Puff's name through the mud."I told him that this didn't surprise me. This is why I always caution people who read these major gossip sites.

I read about the story a couple weeks ago but hadn't had the chance to chase it down due to traveling. I had a chance this evening and I contacted him myself. To say he was approachable and willing to help with the story would be an understatement. He responded to me within 15 minutes of e-mailing, asking for a number where he could reach me and we spoke soon after - at 10:44 PM ET. He was very affable and forthcoming. It simply reaffirms what we already know about gossip sites - it's about pageviews, not truth. It only took 2 minutes for me to reach out to him.

Here at Bad Boy Blog, we wish Mr. Dimanche much success in his new role.

Correction: On initial publishing, the article stated that his final day was January 14. This has been corrected as it was December 14.

The release dates for the upcoming Making the Band 4 and Danity Kane albums have both been pushed back a week. The Making the Band 4 album is now slated for March 11 while the Danity Kane album is set for March 18.

Fat Joe's video to "I Won't Tell" featuring J. Holiday features cameos from Diddy and Mario Winans. You can see them at the 2:00 mark.

Via RapWeekly.com.