Members of DAY26 met while they are still fellow contestants of P. Diddy's reality show, "Making the Band 4". Each of them auditioned in the hope of becoming Diddy's picture of an ideal band. Willie Taylor who came from Chi Town knew from the very beginning that he is destined to be a singer since started singing in churches. Robert Curry from Detroit, Brian Andrews from Houston and Michael McCluney from South Carolina all too have the same passion of crossing the line to become a celebrity through their talent in music by engaging in several competitions while The Rochester-raised Qwanell "Q" Mosley, pursued a serious education at the same music college as Wyclef Jean.

Early 2007 after successfully forming all-girls group Danity Kane on the third season of the show, Diddy got the idea of gathering an R'n'B all-male group. Over thousands of people turned up but only 58 of them got through, among the crowd were Robert, Brian, Willie, Mike and Q. The cast was quickly narrowed down to 20 who lived together in New York, learning how to sing, dance and perform while tackling some challenges. Approaching the end of the season, Diddy chose only five to be grouped as one and that was when DAY26 was born. Beside getting the priceless experience of being mentored by Diddy, they were automatically signed under the mogul's label, Bad Boy Records.

Within five weeks after the glorious day for them, the band was required to complete an album and they got the privilege of working together with Diddy. "Working with Diddy was so cool," Willie recalled the moment. "He gave us incredible advice; to always stay on your grind. Don't ever sleep; always be ahead. Like a chess game; you always make the move that's gonna protect you and take you further." The self-titled album was worked on while they were featured on the second season of Making the Band 4. On the new episodes of the show, they were put in the same house with Kane and Donnie Klang, an MTB 5 contestant who was signed as a solo act. The band's self-titled album was ready to be released towards the end of the season in March 2008 after the Mario Winans-produced song "Got Me Going" was spawned as the first single. "Day26" was eventually released on March 25, 2008, featuring productions from The Runners (T.I., Chris Brown) and Bryan Michael Cox (Mariah Carey, Usher).