After decades of movies about college sports, the bands who take the field at halftime finally get their day in the sun in this musical comedy drama. Devon Miles (Nick Cannon) is a talented young percussionist from Harlem who wins a music scholarship to Atlanta A & T, a prestigious African-American university. For years, Atlanta A & T has won awards for their show-style marching band, who combine expert musicianship (incorporating funk, R&B, and jazz rhythms into the traditional marching band repertoire) with choreography, dancing cheerleaders, and roof-raising showmanship. Dr. Aaron Lee (Orlando Jones), the school's band director, gives Devon a spot in the marching band's drumline, the heart and soul of a show-style band, but discovers Devon's previous musical education hardly meets his usual standard when he learns that his new drummer can't read music. Devon soon earns a reputation as a stubborn individualist within the band, not necessarily a good thing in an ensemble where a strictly unified performance is considers the ideal. Devon's cocksure attitude and streetwise style doesn't mesh very comfortably with Sean Taylor (Leonard Roberts), a disciplined senior who resents the presence of the upstart freshman in the drumline, and things become even less harmonious when Devon begins making a play for Laila (Zoe Saldana), a beautiful girl who is also being courted by Sean. Songwriter and record producer Dallas Austin, who has worked with Boyz II Men, TLC, and Pink, served as executive producer for Drumline, helped produce the film's musical score, and contributed his own experiences as a marching band member to the screenplay.