Stomp the Yard

Stomp the Yard follows DJ, a nineteen-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles whose run-ins with the law and the death of his younger brother leave him facing juvenile detention. He is sent to Atlanta, Georgia, where he enrolls at Truth University, a historically Black college, and tries to build a new life. There he encounters stepping, the rhythmic fraternity dance tradition with roots in African boot dance, and his hip-hop-honed skills quickly draw attention.

Two rival fraternities compete for him, each hoping his moves will carry them to victory at a national step show. DJ's choice puts him on a collision course with Grant, the leader of the dominant fraternity and the boyfriend of April, the young woman DJ is drawn to. Robert Adetuyi wrote the screenplay, Will Packer produced, and Sylvain White directed, following his 2006 debut and preceding The Losers and Slender Man. Columbus Short plays DJ, with Meagan Good as April, Ne-Yo as Rich Brown, Darrin Henson as Grant, Brian J. White as Sylvester and Laz Alonso as Zeke among a credited cast of ninety-two.

Made for thirteen million dollars, the film returned roughly seventy-six million worldwide, a strong multiple that made it a commercial success in its May 2007 release. Audience responses split sharply: on IMDb it holds 5.4 from over twenty-six thousand votes, while on TMDB it scores 7.2 from a much smaller base of 558. A critics' rating of 4.6 from eighty-nine reviews sits below even the IMDb figure, making Stomp the Yard a film that general audiences have rated somewhat more kindly than reviewers.