T.I. made his cinematic debut in 2006 with ATL, however it appears that he previously tried out for Nick Cannon’s lead role in Drumline.
Tip revealed that Drumline might have been in his filmography if he had been able to play the drums on Monday (January 23) during an interview on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast about his successful acting career, which includes parts in American Gangster, the aforementioned ATL, Takers, and more.
“Coming up amongst the ranks in Atlanta, it would bring me into the company of all of the legends in the city,” T.I. said. “And I could not meet all the legends without coming into contact with Dallas Austin. And Dallas Austin was a huge, huge, huge producer-songwriter. Just an incredible talent and an incredible mogul.
“And he was getting into films and he had this one film,” he continued. “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 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 ‘Mannn, I don’t wanna do that.’
“I just didn’t want to commit myself to it at the time. It wasn’t there. 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. 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.”
Tip continued by saying that although he and Nick frequently make fun of the situation, he’s ultimately satisfied with how everything turned out.
A hit at the box office, Drumline from 2002 brought well over $56 million domestically and little over $1 million internationally.
