Produced by the latter two, the track is based on Althea & Donna's 1977 song "Uptown Top Ranking", so Errol Thompson, Joe Gibbs, and Althea & Donna are given writing credits.

The female vocals on the song are provided by Dawn Joseph, Shernette May, and Sharon Murphy.

In his weekly chart commentary, British columnist James Masterton praised the "Uptown Top Ranking" sample, calling it a "perfect tribute", but wrote that the song is an example of "throwaway pop".

[6][7] Across continental Europe, the single entered the top 40 on the charts of Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden while peaking at number 84 in Germany.

[11] In New Zealand, "What You Got" charted for 15 weeks, rising to its peak of number seven on 3 November 2002.