those were the days, I remember the original well, I also was part of the chain in Chicago for this when I was 13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hands_Across_America the original had talent the new version has a few people that can sing unfortunately surrounded by the majority that can't which is a good indicator of today's music, adding rappers on autotune is a disgrace, kinda like if you remake "It's A Wonderful Life" some classics are better left untouched as you won't do them justice.