L-R: Lenny S, Rick Ross, The-Dream; Lauren Gesswein for VH1TV shows about the behind-the-scenes work of making a singing star are nothing new.
But VH1’s new music competition series, SIGNED, aims to do the same for rising hip-hop and R&B artists.
The-Dream, who stars on the show, says SIGNED isn’t a rip-off of Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ Making the Band.
“No cheesecake walking. Ain’t nobody got time for all that,” he tells Billboard.
Dream adds, “But I think the one thing that was great with MTV’s Making the Band was that we did see people from the culture.”
“We didn’t notice it until it was off TV, until it was this kind of gap between what Puff had done and what was actually going on. We knew that it would have to be a great machine and platform to be able to have something like this.”
Rick Ross and Roc Nation executive Lenny S join The-Dream as talent scouts on SIGNED. Both Dream and Lenny tell Billboard that Rick’s ear for music, and his sense of humor, are exceptional.
Dream says, “His music is long stand. His ears are longstanding. He’s just a pretty f****** funny guy, man. All of us are, in our own unique ways, but what we got out of him was a lot of life that you probably have never seen from Rick Ross the rap god.”
Lenny adds, “He ended up being really, really, really comical. He has a great personality.”
There’s a sneak peek of SIGNED posted now on VH1. You can catch SIGNED on VH1 Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET.
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