28 Days of Black Movies: An homage to Lil Saint, the realest, downest character in the dancingest motion-picture show, 'You lot Got Served'

"Yous Got Served." (Sony Pictures)

What I'm nigh to say may audio a little bit crazy but for my life it's true: You Got Served is a very, very entertaining and enjoyable movie. The entire premise of the pic feels and so non-sensical that you can't assistance only smiling every bit the not-sense unfolds. Let's talk about information technology so that nosotros can get to the important role of this movie: the hardest grapheme in the film is an viii-twelvemonth-one-time, Lil Saint.

So here'south the whole story of Yous Got Served: David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) are the leaders of a trip the light fantastic toe crew and also drug runners for the neighborhood drug dealer, Emerald (Michael Taliferro). When they need money (and aren't dancing), they get to the drug running. As a trip the light fantastic toe crew though, they're dope. They win and win with style, breaking suckas down.

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Well, a dance coiffure from Orange County—the movie is set in Los Angeles—challenges David and Elgin's crew to a battle for $5,000 and the challenge is accustomed. Nonetheless, what David and Elgin don't know is that one of their homies has become disenchanted with them and has joined the Orange Country coiffure and given them all the trip the light fantastic toe moves of his prior crew. David and Elgin get served, lose $5,000, and take to run more drugs to get that dough; but while David is trynna holler at Elgin's sister on a date, Elgin goes to get that drug coin and ends up beat upwardly and robbed. Considering David wasn't there for Elgin, their friendship suffers, causing a separate in the trip the light fantastic crew; some go with David, some go with Elgin. They compete in a trip the light fantastic toe boxing for $50,000 and a shot at existence in a Lil Kim video, but in the middle of the competition, Lil Saint gets killed. They finally come together, street manner and win the competition and apathetic blah blah.

That took a lot longer to write out than I imagined. In the center of all this is some very, very ridiculous acting, bad basketball, Meagan Good clearly not having a script and beingness required to improv her lines, which isn't actually bad compared to everybody else who probably did have a script. Too, Steve Harvey is in this movie; his glow-upwardly has been real, as is La La Anthony, Lil Kim, Wade Robson, Columbus Short, Kevin Federline, JackeƩ Harry, another member of IMx and all of B2K. Whew, issa lot.

The nearly interesting graphic symbol, though, is ane Lil Saint, played past Malcolm David Kelley, who was a young Antwone Fisher in the moving-picture show of the same name, Walt Lloyd on Lost for a few seasons and, almost recently, ane of Molly's brothers on Insecure. Lil Saint'southward character is odd. For one, he is apparently a piffling hoodlum who has taken a shining to Rico (played by Jarrell "J-Boog" Houston of B2K) and wants to hang with him and get down with the trip the light fantastic crew. Fam, he's a little kid. But he'due south apparently so real in the streets that everybody knows of him equally being a bad fiddling kid.

I of the weather of Lil Saint being a trip the light fantastic toe amateur (basically) is that he has to surrender the street life. They don't say information technology and so specifically, but he's told he has to stop existence a little thug. I'1000 like, who is this kid?? What is he out here doing already? Is he a stick-upward kid? Is he already in a gang? Rico, who cares deeply for Lil Saint, is doing his all-time to keep Lil Saint on the directly and narrow. Lil Saint, though, is and then existent out here that his OWN coiffure includes folks who apparently drive cars or like to accept him effectually because he's about that life. How practice we know this? Considering Lil Saint loses his life—it's non virtually every bit centre-wrenching as I think it'due south supposed to be; this ain't 1000-Infant—while riding in the automobile with his homies. A rival coiffure shot up the automobile Lil Saint was in.

Lil Saint is real y'all. He knows he must get his life together and because he looks upward to Rico so much, to the point of even dressing like him, he is willing to endeavour to allow go of that street life. Again, y'all, he'south 8. But either he couldn't let it get or simply got in the car with the incorrect people or maybe was the reason the car got shot upwardly; none of that is e'er made entirely articulate, which makes sense; this movie isn't exactly great on explaining much of annihilation.

As a show of love and respect, Elgin's crew renamed itself "the Lil Saints" in honor of the expressionless homie for the competition where the $50,000 and music video is on the line. I love how crazy it is that they made the youngest cast member the hardest 1. And Lil Saint was super down for Rico; like, you lot weren't about to say zero crazy virtually him because so you'd have to mess with Lil Saint, and I kind of experience like nobody truly wanted that fume, which makes no sense. David and Elgin work for a drug dealer who conspicuously doesn't suffer fools, just I was more concerned about who Lil Saint was and just how deep he was in the streets because every mention of him was something near keeping him out of the streets and then, well, he died in the streets.

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Lil Saint was a real one, this much is true. He loved hard and wanted to exist a ameliorate person and follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Rico. He wanted to dance. He wanted to leave the street life for feet life, but his little life was chopped down too soon. I don't know that this ever really happened but I think it did. I imagine that once his gramps asked him if he cared if he lived or died, I'll bet he said yes. But he did too much in the streets and information technology caught up with him, and now it'due south likewise late.

Shouts out to Lil Saint, a straight-upwardly menace who tried to turn it all around but the street life wouldn't allow him go. Truly a life gone too soon.

I hope you got to dance a happy dance in heaven, Lil Saint.


Panama Jackson theGrio.com

Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things and drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty wing for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to appointment in that he received a phone telephone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read 1 of his pieces (biggest) just he didn't reply the phone because the caller ID said "Unknown" (Blackest).

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