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A little over a year ago, a friend introduced me to what quickly became one of my favorite things on the Internet. Part reality show parody, part brilliantly written fan-fiction, Got 2B Real remains a webseries that I rewatch over and over again and recommend to as many people as possible.
Billed as a “diva variety hour,” Got 2B Real combines a variety of found footage — clips from reality shows, TV interviews, and concerts — to create a faux-reality series in which two teams of R&B divas (made up of musical luminaries like Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Mariah Carey, among others) throw all sorts of shade at each other.
Filled with all sorts of side-eyes, weave-snatches, mic-dropping platitudes (“Haters are people who read with no resumé and critique with no credentials”), egomaniacal self-praise, and plenty of swipes against Keri Hilson, Got 2B Real is a brilliant webseries created by an Internet genius known as Patti LaHelle, who has created not just a two-season series with an ongoing narrative but also a handful of follow-up episodes in which our favorite divas return to hate and bitch with and at each other.
Start with the first episode below, in which Patti LaBelle hosts a dinner party at her home — and swiftly shoos away those whose invitations were definitely not lost in the mail.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MzdAVL46E]My personal favorite episode is “Crispy Business,” in which the divas respond to Mary J. Blige’s infamous Burger King commercial, which also features a clip of Rihanna’s particularly cringe-worthy cover of Mariah Carey’s “Hero” which leaves all of the divas (and also Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, because why not?) speechless.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OJBjCJLx4]And Patti LaHelle surprised all of us who obsessively rewatch Got 2B Real with a new video back in October, in which soulful life coach Iyanla Vanzant tries to mediate the divas and extend some of her spiritual guidance to varied results (and it also features a timely appearance from minstrel-show rapper Iggy Azalea).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joQU0U_YIJ8]Watch all of Got 2B Real at Patti LaHelle’s YouTube channel.
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