Battle of the Year Page #2

I'm doing busy.

Can I see D?

It won't even take a minute.

And I would do that

for you because?

'Cause we're co-workers

and I'd really appreciate it.

Try again.

'Cause I'm just a boy

standing in front of a girl

asking her to

further his career.

I love that movie.

What's your name again?

Seriously?

Franklyn. With a

Franklyn with a "Y"

is here to see you.

Go back to

the first one.

I'm sorry. I didn't

mean to bother you.

No bother. Have a seat.

Okay, let's go with that one,

but kill the roses.

The band's manager

really wanted the roses.

Right,

killing the roses.

What's up?

I just wanted to tell you

I didn't know anything about him

asking me to take the coaching job.

You saying you don't

want to do this now?

No, I want to do it,

but I didn't want you to think that

I put WB up to it or something.

Listen, nobody puts WB

up to anything, not even me.

Yeah, I just wanted to make

sure you and I were cool.

Cool?

I mean, you hooked me up

with this job, D,

and I don't want

to seem ungrateful.

Look here, man,

let me level with you.

I don't even know

who you are.

What's your name?

Seriously?

I'm Franklyn with a

How old are you?

I'll be 23 in December.

Franklyn with a do you know

who these two guys are?

Yeah.

Yeah, y'all were ground-breakers

back in the day.

When I started off

with the crew,

we were called

the Battle Troop Crew.

We battled each other more

than we battled other crews.

Until WB showed up.

Comes up as

a foster kid from Georgia

with this country,

hillbilly-type swag,

but it was something

about him, man,

that he just unified the crew.

He just knows how to

bring people together.

And this is in

the early days of hip-hop,

back before white boys

were rapping and b-boying.

That wasn't around back then.

It was just black and Latino.

That's all we had.

So when we would show up

to a battle, oh, man.

(LAUGHS)

But you know what?

When he'd leave that cipher,

he went from white bread

to Wonder Bread.

That's how good he was.

Guess I know why

you call him WB.

Oh, yeah.

But if he was so dope, then

why did he stop breaking?

He wanted to do

the right thing.

See, back in those days, man,

we were all broke.

There was no money in b-boying.

Sure.

So, when he got his

girlfriend pregnant,

her uncle offered him an assistant

basketball coaching job at St. Mark's,

and he took it.

Wait, not St. Mark's that,

that racked up

all those state championships?

Yeah.

And he was the head coach

at the time that they did it.

FRANKLYN:
Then what is

he doing back here?

Starting over.

I don't follow.

Couple years ago,

WB lost his wife and son

in a horrible car accident.

Completely tore

his world apart, man.

I mean, he just...

He checked out.

And I'm hoping that

he's ready to check back in.

And if I'm right,

you're gonna learn more

in five weeks from that man

than you ever would

in five years in this place.

That I promise.

If it doesn't work out, well,

we tried, right, Franklyn

with a "Y"?

Change how you think,

change your life.

B-BOY:
There it is.

There it is!

See?

D, didn't I tell you?

Bring on the French.

Bring on

the punk-ass Koreans.

I like that.

Looking good.

I like what I see. Good job.

Coach, what do you think?

You saw me clapping.

You guys are good.

No disrespect,

but aren't those

the same moves you guys

brought to France?

That wasn't anything

like France.

I've been

watching your tapes.

European tours, regionals.

You've changed

the sequencing, yes,

but it's basically the same

routine as four years ago.

D, didn't I tell you this

coaching thing wasn't gonna fly?

You don't tell me sh*t.

You understand?

I'm not trying to play

the hard case with you,

but I just want you to know

we do have other options.

Are they threatening me?

Sounds like a threat, right?

Are you threatening me?

Come on, man.

This is your coach. What Coach says, you do.

End of story.

Coach?

All right, everybody

line up right here.

Come on, fellas.

All right,

everybody turn to the right.

Chins up, start walking.

Let's take this outside.

What the hell are you doing?

Think they got

options, right?

I brought you here

to make 'em better,

not kick 'em out

into the street.

They may have

a little bit of attitude...

I don't care about attitude.

Bring it.

These guys are stuck, D.

They ain't getting any better.

How long they been a crew,

five years?

Six years.

Even worse.

They've hit

the tipping point.

They've stopped putting all their blood,

sweat and tears into winning a battle

and started putting it

into just not losing.

Trust me, man,

I got a plan.

What you have

is an empty room.

That's what you got.

All right, what's your plan?

Make it good.

Insanity is doing the same

damn thing over and over

and expecting

a different result.

That's what

we've been doing.

It's why we

can't compete, D.

All of our competitors are gonna

bring their best dancers,

but the US, we send

one crew from one city

with maybe two or three

top-tier b-boys on it.

What we should be doing is

cherry-picking the top b-boys

from every crew in

every city across America.

Okay, let me

get this straight.

So you're saying put together

some kind of b-boy all-star team?

A b-boy dream team.

We did the same thing

in basketball,

and we started

that sport, too.

We were getting schooled

in the Olympics

till we put Jordan,

Magic, Bird,

Barkley, Ewing

on the court,

our dream team.

That dream team

had time to prepare.

You do realize you're

trying to put together

a whole new crew in what?

Battle of the Year

is in three months?

Here's the beauty of it. Freestyle

sessions are next week.

All the top crews

are gonna be in town.

Instead of a tune-up

for LA's Finest,

why not turn it into a

try-out for a national team?

When you put the word out

you're sponsoring a dream team,

they'll come in droves.

It's an opportunity

of a lifetime.

So that's your plan?

That's my plan.

It better work.

SWAY:
All right, so listen up.

Dante, the once legendary

b-boy, now hip-hop mogul,

is putting out

a nationwide shout.

Yo, this is it.

Pay close attention.

Crews from sea to shining sea,

north, south, east and west,

this is for you.

My man Dante is on the hunt

for America's best b-boys

to represent the US

in the world championship.

That's right, he's gonna

handpick a dream team.

You want to be a part of it,

get down to that freestyle

competition with Cross One,

and if you think you got

what it takes to represent

the red, the white, the blue,

you'd better bring it.

Okay, Terrence.

TERRENCE:
Check, check, check.

My man D is prowling

for b-boy gold.

If your crew has

what it takes,

you need to come on

down here.

We are looking for

the best of the best.

I don't care how

you get down here.

Just bring your ass on down.

BLAKE:
Here's our first 32.

So what now?

Now we see what

they're made of.

BLAKE:
Tell me your name

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