[5] Along with the album tracks "Star Love" and "You Saved My Day", "Got to Be Real" peaked at number eleven on the National Disco Action Top 40 chart.

In 1993, British singer Erik released a cover of "Got to Be Real", produced by Pete Waterman and Dave Ford.

"[17] Andy Beevers from Music Week gave the song four out of five, writing, "Erik has taken Cheryl Lynn's late Seventies dancefloor anthem and interpreted it in a bang up-to-date disco house style.

The soundtrack features newly recorded music by various artists, including Christina Aguilera, Sean Paul, Timbaland, the Pussycat Dolls, Ludacris, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake.

[22] Cheryl Lynn's recording of "Got to Be Real" was used on the soundtrack of the documentary film Paris Is Burning (1990), and has been noted as echoing the different themes presented within it; New York-based DJ Prince Language commented to NPR in 1992 that "The music that animates the movements of the dancers in the film, especially the lyrics, provides a subversive and sometimes even shady commentary on the politics and aesthetics of drag and ball culture.

[26] "Got to Be Real" has been featured on the soundtracks of numerous films, including Carlito's Way (1993),Undercover Brother (2002), The Pink Panther (2006), The Holiday (2008) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), as well as television series, such as Scandal (2012-2018), Sex and the City (1998-2004), American Dad!