T.I. Reveals He Failed Audition For Nick Cannon’s Role In ‘Drumline'

Before making his acting debut in the 2006 film ATL, T.I. said that he once auditioned for Nick Cannon’s lead role of Devon Miles in Drumline.

During a recent interview on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast, T.I. revealed that he failed the audition for the 2002 movie because of his inability to play the drums.

“Dallas Austin was a huge, huge, huge producer-songwriter — just an incredible talent and an incredible mogul,” the "Whatever You Like" rapper started. “And he was getting into films and he had this one film. I was working on my first album, he was telling me about his first film and you know, I was always like, ‘Yo bruh, put me in it.’ And he was like, ‘Aight, yeah man! Say less.’ And he sent me to go read and I read.”

He added, “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.’”

T.I. told the host Shannon Sharpe that he didn’t want to commit himself to becoming a drum major for the film at the time. “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.” He continued, “But look, that opened the door for me to do ATL! After I didn’t get the role for Drumline, I went back to Dallas and said, ‘Man next time bruh, just give me the role. I ain’t going to read or nothing! Just give me the role.’ And he was like, ‘Cool,’ and he just gave the role for Rashad in ATL.”