You Got Served Information

You Got Served is a film written and directed by Chris Stokes, manager of its stars, recording artist Marques Houston and the members of boy band B2K. The plot concerns a group of dancers, who take part in a street dancing competition. It was released by Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems division on January 30, 2004, and was produced by Marcus Morton, Cassius Weathersby, Billy Pollina, Kris Cruz Toledo. It opened at #1 at the box office during Super Bowl weekend with $16 million grossed in its first week. It has recently gained a cult following.

Plot

David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) lead a promising dance crew in Los Angeles, California who participate in street dancing battles at a warehouse owned by a local club owner, Mr. Rad (Steve Harvey). The film opens up with their crew battling another crew led by Vick (Raz-B). Their crew serves Vick's and Vick's crew is very disappointed

After the battle, David and Elgin go to a club to deliver drugs for a drug lord named Emerald (Michael Taliferro) in order to get money for the battles. When David and Elgin are challenged by Wade (Christopher Jones), a rich kid from Orange County, for $5,000, they think it's easy money. After winning a double or nothing battle, Wade and his best friend, Max (Robert Hoffman) meet Elgin at a park. Elgin tells them that his crew will battle their crew next Saturday night, but Wade and Max think that Elgin's crew are not good enough to battle them at night. Furious, Elgin accepts their offer. He borrows money from his grandmother for the battle.

In the moments before the battle, David and Elgin are shocked to learn that Sonny, who was angry that the crew had decided not to split the entire five thousand, has joined Wade's Crew. Mr. Rad also announces that there will be no fighting during the battle. A fight nevertheless breaks out in the middle of the battle, and Mr. Rad and Mr. Chuck break it up. The crowd applauds Wade's crew and David and Elgin are furious that they have lost for the first time. Elgin tries to tell Mr. Rad that Wade and his crew stole their moves, but Wade, crowing over his success, delivers the titular line, "You're just mad... 'cause tonight you suckas got served!" David and Elgin's crew leaves very angry.

Meanwhile, David and Liyah (Jennifer Freeman), Elgin's sister, are falling in love. David picks her up from work and they go to a restaurant. While playing basketball with Vick, whose crew dumped him because they weren't winning, Elgin gets a cell phone call from Emerald telling him that he wants them to come earlier to do their job. Elgin tries to call David immediately, but before David can take Elgin's call, Liyah turns off his phone, leaving Elgin to do the job himself. Elgin is beat down by some local thugs that take Emerald's money landing Elgin in the hospital, in trouble with Emerald, and furious at David for not doing his job.

The friends split up and form their own crews, but neither is as good as on their own as they are together. Elgin forbids Liyah to see David, ignoring the fact that she and David want to help him. Rico (J-Boog) tells David and Elgin about the "Big Bounce," a $50,000 dance competition purportedly sponsored by MTV which will provide the winning crew the opportunity to perform in a Lil' Kim video. Elgin sees this as a way to pay back Emerald and his grandmother. Attempts to bring Elgin and David together, particularly by Liyah, are fruitless, and twice they nearly come to blows and have to be separated.

Elgin receives a visit from Emerald, who tells him he has a couple of weeks to pay him back. He warns Elgin not to cross him or he "will never walk, let alone dance again."

During the qualifying rounds of the Big Bounce, many crews perform and impress the judges with their skills. When it is time for David's crew, although they and Elgin's crew are impressive, two slip-ups cost David's crew a chance to make it to the finals. Elgin's crew, however, does.

While lamenting his loss to Elgin's crew, David and Liyah learn that Lil Saint, (Malcolm David Kelley), who has been accepted into the crew, gets killed by a drive-by. The next day, Rico goes over to Elgin's house and tells him that they should reunite the crew in honor of Lil' Saint. David arrives a few minutes later, not knowing that Liyah and Rico set them up, and is told the same thing, but he and Elgin disagree.

Elgin's crew, going by the name "The Lil' Saints", shows up to the finals of the "Big Bounce" competition. Wade Robson and Lil' Kim host the competition. The finals begin, but when they announce the winner, they discover there is a tie between "The Lil' Saints" and "Wade's Crew". Both crews refuse a tie. Lil' Kim gets advice from Mr. Rad, who declares a battle competition, "straight hood," with no rules, even allowing other people to join the battling crews. David and Elgin made up with some conviction from their friends, prompting David to rejoin the crew.

They battle Wade's crew, dedicating the battle to Lil' Saint. "The Lil' Saints" win after they get the loudest noise from the crowd. Elgin gave his blessings for David and Liyah to be together, and the two kissed. Wade and Max walk up to them, very upset, saying that it was not fair they lost. David replies with, "Y'all just mad, 'cause today, you suckas got served." Then everyone started chanting "Served", and Wade and Max walked away in shame. The movie ends with the Lil Saints celebrating their remarkable victory.

Cast

• Marques Houston - Elgin Barrett Eugene Smith III, who leads the Lil Saints
• Omari Grandberry - David, Elgin's best friend who falls for Liyah
• Jarell Houston - Rico
• De'Mario Thornton - Vick, leader of a rival crew then later on joins Elgin & David's crew
• Dreux Pierre Frederic - Rashann
• Jennifer Freeman - Liyah Smith, Elgin's sister who has a crush on David and starts dating him
• Meagan Good -
• Steve Harvey - Mr. Rad, Elgin and David longtime friend who runs the club that they perform in
• Christopher Jones - Wade, a spoiled rich kid
• Jerome Jones - Sonny, betrades David and Elgin's crew after a despute about sliptting the money they make
• Robert Hoffman - Max, Wade's best friend and lackey
• Malcolm David Kelley - TeShawn 'Lil' Saint' Miller, a young boy who joins David's crew but later gets killed
• Babbal Kumar as dark dancer
• Wade Robson - Himself
• Lil' Kim - Herself
• Alani Vasquez - Herself
• Michael Taliferro - Emerald, a crime boss whom Elgin and David work for
• Dyneisha Rollins - Dancer
• Columbus Short - Dancer
• Harry Shum Jr. - Dancer
• Mike Bodden - Dancer
• Aaron Davis - Dancer

Sequel

You Got Served: Beat The World is a straight to DVD film released on June 21, 2011 starring Lil' C.

Beat The World is a film written and directed by Robert Adetuyi (writer - Stomp The Yard) released in 2011, by InnerCity Films. It was distributed in the United States on DVD by Sony Home Entertainment under the name You Got Served: Beat The World. The film stars Tyrone Brown, Mishael Morgan, Nikki Grant and Parkour artist Chase Armitage.

The original soundtrack was produced by Frank Fitzpatrick and released on Hip Hop Connect. It features KRS-One, K'naan, Ziggy Marley, Nneka, Les Nubians, MV Bill, Talib Kweli, Sway and Lina. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy through EarthTones.

Soundtrack

You Got Served Soundtrack features mainly music by B2K, but also Marques Houston, and many others. There were some profanities in the soundtrack such as "Streets Is Callin'" but did not receive a PA label. The soundtrack was released on December 23, 2003. Also, there was a release of a music video for B2K's single "Badaboom" featuring Fabolous and Marques Houston was the guest appearance.

Reception

You Got Served opened at the #1 spot, knocking The Butterfly Effect to #2. It had generally poor reviews, earning a 17% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While many critics enjoyed the dance sequences, they found the rest of the movie to be rather generic. Critics however praised Jarell Houston's performance in the film, saying "Out of B2K, J-Boog is the best actor. His character brings heart and message into the movie." Richard Roeper enjoyed the scene where the doctor tells the gang that Lil' Saint died, and praised Houston. "If You Got Served was an Oscar contender, J-Boog would absolutely receive Best Supporting Actor."

Parodies

• You Got Served was parodied in the eighth-season episode of the animated series South Park entitled "You Got F'd in the A".
• The film Meet the Spartans parodies this movie in a scene where the Spartans face off the Immortals.
• 2009's Dance Flick also parodies this film.
• The 2004 video game The Bard's Tale had a parody scene with a dance off between zombies and skeletons.
• The show Robot Chicken parodies this film using characters from the anime Voltron. A second, lesser known skit named "Young Black People on a Rhythm Team" also parodies the film, as well as the dance film genre in general.
• In the online game Guild Wars: Nightfall if the dance command is entered at the correct place before the final battle the boss will dance and instantly kill you. The words "You Got Served" appear afterwards.