Where Was Southern U. in "Drumline" Movie?

Indirectly, the movie “Drumline” is an autobiography of music producer Dallas Austin, producer of the film. It follows the life of Devon Miles (played by Nickelodeon’s Nick Cannon) as a member of the renowned but fictitious Atlanta A&T University Marching Band. Miles experiences success and failure.

In the movie, several real-life HBCU bands – from Morris Brown College, Grambling State University, Clark-Atlanta University and Bethune-Cookman, to name a few -- accompanied the band at the fictional university.

Southern, Florida A&M and Grambling State universities say they were given the opportunity to take part in the movie. All bands were offered a flat $10,000 for the performance and $3,000 for the production of recordings. But only Grambling accepted.

"I felt that it would be good to make it (the movie) a part of black college band history," said Dr. Larry Pannell, director of bands at Grambling. While he is disappointed that Southern did not participate, he said but feels the school had a very good reason.

In the original script, Southern University, portrayed as New Orleans Tech, ranked in third place, and FAMU, called Florida Central in the script, fourth. The competition was a part of the “Southern Classic,” in reality the Bayou Classic. Third place? "No amount would have been enough. My pride is too high," said Dr. Isaac Greggs, Southern University’s band director.

After Greggs complained about his position in the competition and the false name of the university, the script was adjusted so that all universities would keep their names, but Southern would still come in third place. For this reason, Greggs said he declined.

"How could I explain to the students and band alumni that we had to come in third? I couldn’t," said Greggs.

Speaking of the Southern marching band, the Human Jukebox, Greggs has often said that "the Jukebox is often imitated, but never duplicated." In the movie, it was clear that certain bands were mimicking others. For instance, the style of the Atlanta A&T University band, as well as its director, Dr. Lee, played by Orlando Jones, from the "Make 7-Up Yours" commercials, closely resembled that of the Southern University band and director.

Kayla Perkins is a student at Southern University who writes for The Southern Digest.