• The band is made, and one day I will forgive Puffy for confusing my DVR by making the live show go overtime and forcing me to find out the winners from Wikipedia. [MTV]

• If Kanye West is the new Michael Jackson and 50 Cent says Michael Jackson could sell more records than him, where does that leave the September 11 battle? [SP]

• Alright, I might just have to watch Dancing With The Stars this season. Tori Spelling? Mel B? Gisele? It will be like a reality TV dance competition version of Us Weekly. [TMZ]

• R. Kelly shoots down rumors he's going on tour with Keyshia Cole and says he's currently preparing for his trial. By preparing for his trial, he means writing hundreds of "Trapped in the Closet" episodes. [SOHH]

• These researchers are crazy. Why on earth would tobacco companies advertise more in black neighborhoods? [Physorg]

• In honor of the upcoming NY Fashion Week, which celebs do you think have earned fashion honors? [BLife]

• Laurie Ann Gibson's obligatory explanation video for her and Diddy's Making the Band 4 blow up, complete with the "creative editing" excuse. Filming it in a carriage in Central Park was a nice touch. [C&D]

• I have no reason for expecting more from Jamie Foxx than this, but I do. [Bossip]

• Apparently, Nicole Richie was more surprised than we were by her short stint in jail. [TMZ]

• The latest on the rumor mill is that Toni Braxton is suffering from breast cancer, which I guess kind of trumps her check-bouncing issues. [SR]

• The College Dropout wants kids to stay in school. [AHH]

I caught a bit of MTV's Making the Band 4 marathon this weekend (the more I watch it, the more I love it). New Edition's "Can You Stand The Rain", a logical choice by judge Michael Bivens, was one of their earlier try-out songs, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Althoug when I finally got the video on YouTube, my focus shifted from the song to Johnny Gill's jeans. And hair. Not even Eddie Murphy would approve.

On Wendy Williams, Laurie Ann Gibson tries to skirt around the whole Puffy chair-throwing incident for legal reasons, but she basically calls Michael Bivens and Puffy raging lunatics. Uh, I think that makes three of them. [PJ]

50 Cent trashes Lil Wayne, Oprah, and Kanye — three people who are better than him in most ways — on the radio. [Bossip]

This is how record executives write emails these days? [SR]

Common's Finding Forever. For free. [TAN]

This is going to be bad. So, so, so bad. [MG]

Considering how often D-listers announce their plans for a reality show, I am considering making this sort of post a daily feature. This time, it's quirky/eccentric/crazy Making the Band choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, who, according to Concrete Loop, is shopping around a show that will follow her attempt to record an album and become a singing sensation. Interestingly there are no shots of her singing in this YouTube preview. I wonder why.

[CL]

I might have expressed my unnatural love for reality shows featuring dancing once or twice here on Stereohyped, so you must understand that MTV's Making The Band series is a favorite of mine. And, since I am a fan of the dance, you must also understand that I find Laurie Ann Gibson, endlessly entertaining.

From her opening line, a glee-filled shout telling us that "[we] already know," to her boom-cat-cat sound effects, delivered with such passion that she lost her voice, Laurie Ann is, if I may quote Ne-Yo here, a movement by herself. A totally imbalanced but talented movement.

CONTINUED »

Grab your popcorn — the fourth installment of MTV's best train-wreck show is premiering tonight at 10 pm. If I was forced to guess, I would say that this season will be a cross between MTB2, when Diddy formed the disastrous "Da Band," and MTB3, when Diddy formed the only slightly less disastrous Danity Kane. Even if it's horrible, I will at least watch until the moment Laurie Ann goes crazy, and Diddy threatens her with a chair.