The 2002 film Drumline is widely considered an HBCU classic and, per Nick Cannon's comments on The Pivot podcast, Will Smith helped Cannon land the role. During the interview, Cannon listed the ways that Smith helped with jumpstarting his career.

“This man gave me my first record deal, gave me my first television deal, people don't even know this when it was up between me and another individual for Drumline, he personally made the phone call to the head of the studio and said ‘this is the person you need to give this job to.’”

Cannon continued, “It's funny because Will made that call for me, and in the movie, they needed a rapper-celebrity cameo. It ended up being Petey Pablo, but they were like, ‘Will got you the job. Can you call Will or something to try and perform at the Classic?' I was like, ‘I think he a little busy.' But he's opened so many doors, but not only has he opened doors,” Cannon continued. “He showed me the power of resilience, the power of hard work and the power of really just being a kind individual. That dude walks into a room, and he's nice to everyone, and it's not an act.”

The legend of Drumline continues to grow as time passes. The film follows the journey of Devon Miles, a cocky musician that leaves New York to attend HBCU Atlanta A&T and join the institution’s marching band. Miles’s overconfidence and hotheadedness get him in trouble and the discovery that he doesn’t know how to read music threatens to derail his band membership.

It has been widely reported in the years following the release of the film that T.I. was in the running to play Devon Miles. In comments on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast in 2023, T.I. confirms that he was in line to take the iconic role, but turned it down.

“[Dallas Austin] was telling me about his first film. I was always like, ‘Yo bruh, put me in it.’ And he was like, ‘Aight, yeah man. Say less.’ He sent me to go read and I read and they were like, ‘Man, you got to learn how to play the drums.’ And I was like, ‘I could play like I could play the drums.’ They were like, ‘Nah, you gotta learn how.’ I was like, ‘Man, I don’t wanna do that.’”

He continued, “I just didn’t want to commit myself to it at the time. It wasn’t there,” he added. “But I read, and I didn’t get it, and that movie went on to be Drumline. Yeah, I was reading for Nick Cannon’s part.”

T.I. eventually went on to play the role of “Rashad” in the Dallas Austin-produced film ATL and Cannon landed his role in Drumline. The role in Drumline aided to Cannon's rapid career ascension as he proceeded to star in more films and even produced projects such as MTV's hit show Nick Cannon Presents: Wild N' Out. Cannon also started his own HBCU journey, graduating from Howard University in 2020 with a master's degree in child psychology.