Dance Movies

Stomp the Yard is a 2007 drama film with produced by Rainforest Films and released through Sony Pictures‘ Screen Gems division on January 12, 2007. Directed by Sylvain White, Stomp the Yard centers around DJ Williams, a college student at a fictional historically Black university who pledges to join a fictional Greek-letter fraternity. The film’s central conflict involves DJ’s fraternity competing in various stepping competitions against a rival fraternity from the same school. The film’s script was written by Robert Adetuyi, working from an original draft by Gregory Ramon Anderson. The film was originally titled Steppin’, but to avoid confusion over the 2006 film Step Up, the title was changed.

The film stars Columbus Short, Meagan Good, Darrin Henson, Nadia Feseha, Brian White, Laz Alonso, and Valerie Pettiford, with Harry Lennix and, in their film debuts, R&B singers Ne-Yo and Chris Brown. Stomp the Yard was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia on the campuses of Morris Brown College, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University, and in the MAK Historic District of Decatur, Georgia.

Reception

The general consensus was that while the film’s dance and stepping sequences were found to be impressive, its plot was seen as melodramatic and clichéd. Regardless of the critical reviews, however, the film opened at number-one with a first-weekend gross of $22 million, becoming the first film in three weekends to beat out Night at the Museum at the box office. Stomp the Yard, produced on a budget of $13 million, eventually went on to gross $61 million in the United States and $75 million worldwide.

Stomp the Yard received poor reviews from critics. On the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes, 27% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 86 reviews.

Sony Pictures held a national high school stepping competition in conjunction with the release of the film. The winning team was from North Stafford High School in the suburb of Stafford, Virginia.

Alpha Phi Alpha boycott threat

A boycott of the film was threatened by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and supported by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, due to a conflict between the organizations and Stomp the Yard producers Will Packer and Rob Hardy (both members of Alpha Phi Alpha) over the unauthorized use of some of Alpha Phi Alpha’s trademarks in the film. The groups ended their threat when Sony Pictures and Screen Gems agreed to the removal of all references, in the film, to the Fraternity. Sony and Screen Gems made a decision for a donation to the The Washington D. C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, a project of Alpha Phi Alpha. The offending scenes of Alpha Phi Alpha steppers which were deleted from the final release print appear in both versions of the Stomp the Yard movie trailer.

Soundtrack album

1. “Go Hard or Go Home” – E-40 featuring The Federation
2. “Vans” – The Pack
3. “Poppin’” – Chris Brown
4. “Sign Me Up” – Ne-Yo
5. “The Champ” – Ghostface Killah
6. “Walk It Out” – DJ Unk
7. “Pop, Lock, and Drop It” – Huey
8. “The Deepest Hood” – Al Kapone
9. “Come On” – Bonecrusher featuring Onslaught
10. “Supermixx’s Black In The Building” – Public Enemy
11. “Storm” – Cut Chemist featuring Mr. Lif & Edan
12. “In the Music” – The Roots featuring Malik B & Porn
13. “Ain’t Nothing Wrong with That” – Robert Randolph & The Family Band
14. “Bounce Wit Me” – R.E.D. 44
15. “This Woman’s Work” – Maxwell

Cast

• Columbus Short – DJ Williams
• Meagan Good – April
• Ne-Yo – Rich Brown
• Darrin Henson – Grant
• Harry J. Lennix – Uncle Nathan
• Valarie Pettiford – Aunt Jackie
• Brian J. White – Sylvester
• Laz Alonso – Zeke
• Jermaine Williams – Noel
• Chris Brown- Duron Williams