Drop the Beat was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 television series produced by Back Alley Films, which aired on CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 in 2000. A short run dramatic series, the show was one of the first television series ever built around hip hop music

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 and culture.

The show, a spinoff of the earlier CBC series Straight Up

Straight Up (TV series)

Straight Up is a popular but short lived Canadian television series produced by Back Alley Films. Although critically acclaimed , the show only ran for 13 episodes on CBC Television from 1996 to 1998...

, starred Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor (actor)

Mark Taylor is a Canadian actor. Taylor is predominately known for his roles as Romeo in Student Bodies, and Kwest in Instant Star...

 as Jeff and Merwin Mondesir

Merwin Mondesir

Merwin Mondesir is a Canadian actor. His ancestry is Saint Lucian. Now he is living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.- Movies :*2000: Seventeen Again as Todd*2001: Bones as Bill Peetas*2004: Godsend as Maurice...

 as Dennis, the hosts of a hip hop show on CIBJ-FM, a fictional campus radio

Campus radio

Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...

 station in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. Michie Mee

Michie Mee

Michelle McCullock , better known by her stage name Michie Mee, is a Canadian rapper and actor. As Canada's first notable female MC, she is considered a national hip-hop pioneer.-Early life and career:...

 starred as Divine, a rapper who was part of Jeff and Dennis' crew, and Ingrid Veninger

Ingrid Veninger

Ingrid Veninger is a Canadian actress and director.Her start in show business was in an advertisement for Bell Canada with Megan Follows at age 11...

 played the station manager. The supporting cast also included Arlene Duncan

Arlene Duncan

Arlene Duncan is a Canadian singer/actress from Oakville, Ontario. She is currently in the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie. Her half brother is Canadian Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey.-External links:...

, Vanessa Ford, Jennifer Baxter

Jennifer Baxter

Jennifer Baxter is a Canadian actress and comedian formerly based out of Toronto and currently living in Los Angeles with her husband Mike Beaver....

, Jason Harrow

Kardinal Offishall

Jason D. Harrow , better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall , is a Canadian rapper and record producer. He is often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", and is best known for his distinctive reggae and dancehall-influenced style of hip-hop.-Life and career:Harrow was born in...

, Shamann Williams and Omari Forrester.

The use of a campus radio station was a deliberate reflection of Canadian reality — until Toronto's Flow 93.5

CFXJ-FM

CFXJ-FM is a Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario, which uses the on-air brand FLOW 93.5. It first aired in 2001 as Canada's first urban music station...

 hit the airwaves in early 2001, Canada did not have any radio stations dedicated specifically to urban music.