Previously on Empire... All anybody can talk about
is this rare talent.
You got shot. Your PTSD is no less
significant than mine. You need treatment, man.
The Jamal Lyon that you know
went missing when you shot him.
Oh, dude... oh... I did not mean to hurt you.
Andre messed up.
Andre did mess up.
I didn't know Gram
was performing with Tiana tonight.
Why don't you spit
some napalm on the diss track
and bury him and everything he cares about.
Cookie, you should come down
to the center sometime.
I'm retaking control of Empire music...
...because, at the end of the day,
it's all business.
That's all you got?
Oh, man, come on.
Why aren't we doing this at Empire?
Small concession.
Nessa's deal is a standard new artist contract.
And if it makes shine feel
like a big shot to have us show up
at his rinky-dink-ass, little joint,
to dot the ts and cross the is, so be it.
Is that her?
Oh, that's right.
You weren't at the Empire xstream event
when she busted out.
What you're hearing right now is an experience
only a black woman can give you.
When they talk about soul music...
...this is what they're talking about.
That's why we need to lock her down real quick.
Careful, son.
You're in the system now.
LUCIOUS.
Something for your new wife.
Let's just close this thing, shine.
Andre.
Dre.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Uh, so, you can have somebody
look this over if you want,
but I can assure you it's legitimate.
Shine, just sign the thing.
Yeah.
I'm not gonna do that.
I mean, what kind of businessman
would I be without entertaining other offers?
All your friends are here.
We got Frank Sutton,
Warner/Chappell,
Trey Rhodes, Cecil Bivens,
Island Def Jam.
Over there is, uh, Universal music group.
And Empire.
Word on the street is,
Tommy Davoni wants to get in, too.
Looks like we got ourselves
an old school bidding war here, gentlemen.
Have you all present to me by Friday.
Let's make it... 11:17.
Thanks for coming.
What kind of bonehead lets a voice like that
slip through the cracks?
That deal should have been closed
three damn weeks ago.
First of all, nobody calls me out my name.
Secondly, how am I supposed
to finalize an artist contract?
Unless what you're telling me is that I now have that authority
because there is no head of a&r to oversee the deal.
She's right. She's right.
And, Cookie, please, remember that I put my name
in the hat for that.
For what? A promotion?!
Yeah. I'm this close
to firing your ass!
Lucious! All right, okay.
Look...
We hired Xavier Rosen.
Who?! I'm sorry.
He starts tomorrow.
You mean the Jewish dude
pretending he's black?!
Look, he is an encyclopedia
when it comes to hip-hop and R&B.
And he has the digital marketplace
on lockdown, Lucious.
That should make you happy.
Empire xstream is your baby.
No, what makes me happy is you two no longer have
any excuse for this lack of accountability.
I told y'all there was money on the table
to be made with this Gram and Hakeem beef.
Tiana is writing her clapback song
right now.
If I can get her to sing the song.
If? After the mess
you made by using her vocals on Hakeem's diss track?
You need to stop dipping
and dapping on my side of the business.
Okay, well, get me that song,
so I can promote it on my side
of the business.
Or this "game on" of yours
is gonna be "game over."
All right. Whatever.
The hell is wrong with you right now?
What are you talking about?
No, I get it.
Angelo ain't called you, has he?
I gave up an artist for nothing.
Get me that damn song!
I need Tiana
in the studio working on that song right away
without her damn boyfriend.
That boy is a problem.
Uh, you know what?
I want to be in that session.
Why don't you reschedule my mani-pedi for tomorrow?
Also, I need to see Ashunta.
I need to see her
before I go to my marketing meeting. Okay.
Um, and has anyone heard...
No, he still ain't called yet.
Miss Cookie.
Yeah, that's me.
What's this?
Oh.
Oh, that was beautiful, babies.
Thank you so much. Say thank you. Thank you.
Say bye. Bye, miss Cookie.
Say bye-bye. Aw. Bye-bye.
You lied to me.
I told her, if you fired her,
she could come work for me.
Doing what?
Teaching those beautiful babies
how to scam people?
Oh, come on now.
So, what do you want?
Well, uh, one of my favorite singers,
Gia copeland, is performing... Oh, you want me to sign her?
'Cause last I remember, you didn't want
the little boy, Zeah, to work with us.
Okay, easy, easy.
I just want to take you to see some good music.
Gia's performing at the Cooper
and I was wondering if you could, uh, accompany me.
A date?
Mm-hmm.
A date.
Well, I am a pretty tough
critic when it comes to music, so...
Are you?
Are you sure you want that
to be our first date?
Hey, well...
I'm cool if you're cool.
Are you cool?
Okay.
I'll get at you.
All right.
Oh, suki suki.
He's taking you to that new club called the Cooper
out there in Washington heights.
I heard that place stay lit.
You gonna have a good time.
Well, he's a gentleman, so he probably picked that place
so I could feel comfortable.
I mean, he ain't Lucious,
but I bet he know how to turn up.
He reminds me of this guy my daddy wanted me to marry.
You actually might need to know how to count
in the future, okay?
You got to trust me, all right?
Okay.
Oh!
Oh, my god, there's my dad.
Okay.
I don't know why, but your dad always scared me.
He can be scary sometimes.
Yeah.
You'll be fine.
Thanks, Barry.
Hey, how you doing, Mr. Hardaway? Hi, daddy.
See you later.
I defrosted the chicken.
I can put some rice on with it.
Candace is on one of her diets, so...
You should have some leftovers for lunch.
The school called.
You skipped second and third period
three days this week. I better not hear
you running around with that drug dealer.
Look, I'm not doing nothing wrong, daddy.
I'm not messing around with drugs.
I'm keeping my grades up.
Look... it's just about the music.
Loretha, we have plans.
Howard. Maybe medical school.
Candace is not as smart as she thinks she is.
And Carol... Baby, Carol's gonna
always gonna have to walk uphill.
You special, loretha.
You're the one.
You put too much on me, dad.
I put everything on you.
And I swear before god,
I'm not gonna let no Lucifer lyons,
or whatever the hell his name is, get in the way.
Barry's a good boy, loretha.
The kind that's gonna
lift you up and not drag you down.
You understand me?
Hey, Lucious.
What are you doing
slithering around here?
Ear hustling?
I work here, remember?
I'm just worried about you, you know.
Yeah. I want what's best for you.
Oh, you do?
Well, then why are you giving Angelo
such a hard way to go, huh?
'Cause he don't know you like I do.
He don't know where you come from.
He don't know what your drive is.
Well, what he is is a good man, Lucious.
A man who will lift his woman up, instead of drag her
through every kind of hell.
Look, it's true.
I don't know him.
All I know is he's got a string
of socialites that he dates.
And I wonder why
he's dating you.
Did he tell you that he
put in a bid to run for mayor?
Do you think he's gonna do that
with a convicted felon on his arm?
Let me holler at her, dad.
Me and nessa, we're tight.
Plus, I'm good with shine.
I can get her on Empire.
You think so, huh?
You always on me about "be a man."
I'm telling you, I got this.
It's too late.
I already told Dre to handle it.
Well, how about me and Hakeem, we...
Do it together?
Something like this got to be done right.
I mean, shine is gonna take every advantage that he can.
All right, what's the offer?
A million on signing.
Another $500,000 after her first album,
and a $500,000 bonus if she hits platinum
or a billion streams.
Whichever comes first.
Make it a million-five and I'll sign it.
That's a $2â½ million deal.
This is how it's done.
We want to tuck in shine and get rid of the competition.
Me and Dre won't let you down.
Give me a second with pop, okay?
Appreciate it.
Were you aware that Jamal went to see
Freda gatz in lockup?
I thought you should know he's planning on
going back again today.
Thanks, son.
Yeah.
It's good to have you back.
You and me are about to become a powerful team again.
Thank you for coming.
I'm glad you called.
I just hope that she'll even talk to me
I... I was too hard on her last time.
That's not gonna happen this time.
You've done the work, and you're ready to face her.
You know what, i... I...
Um... follow... Follow my breathing.
Good.
Now, she might be angry when she sees you,
so I want you to try to... Jamal Lyon!
I'm gonna leave you to this. Okay.
Thanks, Philip. You got this.
Yeah.
Who did that to you?
Let's just say you got some really,
really big fans in here.
All right, well, you can't stay here.
State of New York got something different
to say about that.
No, no, what did your lawyer say?
The lawyer Lucious sent?
He don't care about me, man.
Lucious sent that man in here to make sure
I kept my mouth shut about certain things.
But I'm not no snitch, so...
I'm gonna fix this.
I am.
It's all good.
I belong here for what I did to you.
And I'm sorry about that.
I'm really sorry about that, Mal.
I know, I know.
It's cool.
You get beat up on the head a little bit,
they put you in segregation for a few days.
So I'm good.
I'll be safe in there.
Welcome to my Empire xstream channel.
Hakeem lives the dream 24/7!
Listen, y'all, we comin' to y'all live right now in effect,
with Empire's beautiful new star.
Her name is nessa, and I invited her
and her ugly-ass manager shine to my crib
to come here and celebrate with us
in honor of her signing with Empire... ain't that right?
Bring it!
I picked this little fella out the field myself.
That's how we roll at Empire.
Come here, nessa.
Now, once we get the business out the way,
we can get some work done.
Hit them songs i was talking about.
Get you some hits, girl.
Ain't gonna be no signing to Empire
unless daddy get them numbers right.
Whatever price you need.
You not gonna beat this offer.
Oh, yeah? Well, tell me the offer.
If it's good enough, I'll sign it right now.
I don't have any contracts on me.
Okay, just put it on that napkin.
It'll be binding until we get the long forms done.
But I'll sign it if it's dope.
Hey, you got a pen?
I got one.
Okay.
Oh.
That's a nice offer, right?
That's a real nice offer. Yeah.
Yo, y'all see that? Yo, man!
That's how Empire comin'. Stop showin' everybody, man!
All you other labels out there,
don't even come below 2.5.
Shine's waiting, baby.
Thanks for the hospitality.
Let's go, nessa.
Later, Hakeem.
Hey, cook, Jamal wanted me to play this demo for you that he's working on.
You better get dressed for your date with Angelo.
Uh-uh, no. The lyrics are too soft.
I need them to be sexier.
Tell him to listen to Marvin gaye's "sexual healing."
I look like Mrs. odell, who went to all the funerals
at my church... here. How's the Booty?
I mean, you know the emoji with the big ol' eyes?
Yeah. That's-that's-that's me.
Angelo better get ready for all that jelly. Ha!
No, it's wrong.
Unzip me. Take this off.
Can you go get Xavier?
Yo, Becky said that you wanted to see me.
Oh, my god! That is hot.
You're looking good, ma. You trying to kill a brother?
I look like snuffleupagus. Come on.
Xavier, Tiana is doing a live performance
for Empire xstream two nights from now,
and it has to be hotter than July.
Look, she needs to come hard,
like the bad bitch from "y u mad?"
You say... look, Tiana is R&B, not hip-hop.
She's right, Tiana's not Nicki. She's more Rihanna.
Look, just get her in here for a meeting tomorrow.
I'm on it.
Oh, oh, chyna doll, '99.
Yeah, foxy brown, she rocked the joint
just like this one.
I swear to god, i saw that album cover,
didn't leave my bedroom for a week.
Just sayin'.
Enjoy the show.
Oh, perfect timing.
All right. Why are you in a tux?
Oh, I didn't tell you this was a fund-raiser?
That's my bad.
Okay, maybe I should... Wait!
I'm not letting you get away from me...
Looking this good.
Ooh, Cookie, you look stunning.
I'm hyped because tonight they got Gia singing
from one of my favorite arias from la bohã¨me.
Are you an opera fan?
Well, we're about to find out.
All right. Thank you.
Wonderful to see you.
Hey, man, it's good to see you.
You want anything to drink?
I would like a hennessy, please, straight up.
Now, when you say "hennessy..."
Hennessy, hennessy.
You're good? Mm-hmm.
Good evening, ladies.
Wow, we didn't think you'd show. What's happening?
This is more of a Sabrina thing.
His latest ex.
Cookie, this is Vivian plumber.
We did Jack and Jill together.
And Bridget pearce.
Our families summer together in oak bluff.
Where do you stay on the vineyard? The vineyard?
Martha's vineyard.
Actually, Cookie spends most of her summers
running her family's multibillion-dollar
corporation.
Actually, I have summered in Connecticut.
At the danbury federal correctional institution
for women.
Ooh.
That was so real.
That was hot. I liked that.
That was hot. Can I go eat?
Ladies and gentlemen,
please take your seats.
(Singing "musetta's waltz" in Italian)
What is she saying?
Oh, um, it's the story of a woman caught
in between two men.
You better sing that, girl!
I just don't know what he's doing with that hood rat.
That's our Angelo.
He's a true playboy.
Heartbreaker with a heart of gold.
Just wonder how long before he tosses
that charity case back to...
What's the name of that prison she escaped from?
It won't be long.
He's on the rebound from Sabrina.
As soon as she returns from Milan...
I got a charity for you.
Make a wish. You know that one?
Once I get finished whupping both of y'all's asses...
You gonna wish you never met a hood rat like me.
Just wiping my hands, bitches.
There's a club called the Cooper
in Washington heights told you.
That says "the compound."
And it's in Atlanta, dummy.
Oh.
Well, ain't you gonna at least hit Angelo back,
so he don't think you somewhere
laying in an alley?
I don't know know what Angelo was thinking
taking you there anyway. Please.
Go do something. Find something.
Get out of my sight right now.
Girl... So, Gram shades Hakeem,
and Keem shades him back.
And now I'm in a damn sandbox with two little boys fighting
over whose is bigger.
See?
I knew'd it.
I'm-a go get you a green juice.
Look, Tiana, this beef is actually gold, all right?
Just think of yourself like beyoncã©.
The sisters, they're gonna love watching you
clap back. "The sisters"?
What do you know about black women?
My girlfriend's black. We talk about empowerment
for black women all the time.
Look, Tiana, I hear you, baby.
But your boyfriend promised your fans
an answer to Hakeem's diss,
so we owe it. I don't care.
I'm not trying to be looking like
I'm caught up between two men, Cookie.
I'm an artist,
not a reality show.
I know you're an artist, baby.
Guess what? Artists have been singing about
this kind of stuff since the beginning of time.
Have you ever seen the opera, la bohã¨me?
No, I wasn't trying to play her out.
Actually I was trying to impress her.
I mean maybe it's just that
y'all come from different worlds.
No, I don't bite at that, but
that's a false dichotomy.
My mom said something similar
except she used a different "f" word.
Touchã©.
Ah. Man, look, what you need to do
is you just need to show her that...
I don't know, you can hang in her world,
instead of just trying to make her
fit into yours.
How am I supposed to do that?
I mean, for one,
do you own anything other than a suit?
I'm just saying.
It...
I can have my boy, paolo, set you up. Okay.
So, I'll reach out to your boy, uh, paolo,
for the threads.
I've been thinking about Freda gatz.
You're sure you want to get her out?
Yeah, they're gonna kill her in there if I don't.
If a judge were to declare her non compos mentis
during the shooting...
Wait, so, like temporary insanity?
Yeah. Do you know if she has any documented history
of mental illness?
I don't, um...
I don't think so.
Oh, it's gonna be a tough needle to thread.
Uh, I tell you what,
Gabrielle Gerard, she's the best attorney in New York
dealing with this type of stuff.
I'm-a link you two.
Thank you. Thank you.
Quickbooks?
Excel.
Listen, uh, the only reason I let you in here
is because I figured it was important for you to see
what I'm about.
And I see, he, uh...
Has you doing his books.
Math always came natural.
Oh, me, too.
So you should know, nessa, the deal Empire's offering
is the best you're gonna get.
There's a sizeable advance,
the royalty rate's on the high end of reasonable,
and you get to keep
the income stream from merch and publishing.
It's not that different from the other labels.
You really want to sign with Tommy davoni?
Or some Dutch-owned conglomerate, really?
So this is a black thing now?
One thing this country's gonna make sure
you remember, little sister,
it's always a black thing.
Listen, why are you here?
Talking to me like this one-on-one?
Shine is exploiting you, nessa.
He's using you to hold off for a label deal.
I owe shine, Andre.
He took me in after...
I know all about that.
You know, I met your brother, stone, when I was a kid?
I was a senior at Roman catholic when I heard he got killed.
I'm sorry about that.
You know, you and me,
nessa, we're both from west Philly,
we're both... good at math.
We got a lot in common. Except...
I didn't go to some fancy-ass college.
Ah...
The irony is,
you can tell shine how much money he's got,
down to the last nickel.
But you have no idea
what you're worth.
This business,
this dangerous, dangerous business,
it was your brother's, it was stone's.
He left it in shine's care for you.
Are you gonna take what's yours?
Are you?
If I had your musical talent...
I'd already own Empire.
Not bad, appealing to an artist's self-interest.
Told you, self-preservation
is the first rule of nature, son.
Did it work?
Nessa's a smart girl.
We still need to get shine's signature, though.
What's up, Andre?
That's what we doing?
We're short-stopping now?
It's all right, pop.
I got this.
What's up?
Y'all take everything from me.
Oh, hell no.
Not nessa!
Whoo!
Told you...
That 250 k
for a-rod's bat was gonna pay off.
All right, shine,
let's get down to some business.
You saw the godfather.
I ain't signing that.
How 'bout that?
You all right, son?
Yeah, pop.
I'm good.
This emergency bail hearing is highly unusual,
but counsel made a compelling argument
on imminent danger to Ms. gathers' life.
Your honor, my client doesn't dispute
that she shot Jamal Lyon.
But she has no priors.
She's not a known violent offender.
We're presenting evidence to the court today to show
that on the night of the shooting, Ms. gathers was using
alcohol in combination with prescription drugs.
This lead to an episode of intense
temporary paranoia which in turn, lead miss gathers
to take the weapon from the security guard.
And shoot Mr. Lyon with it.
By mistake, your honor.
She was having what the psychologist here describes
as a fugue episode.
Is this what happened, Ms. gathers?
Guess so.
That's a convenient narrative, Ms. Gerard.
Ms. gathers has a history of psychological problems.
Your honor, may I speak? Go ahead, Mr. Lyon.
Your honor, Freda gathers is behind bars
because of my family.
Empire...
Gave Freda a record contract.
And with that came fans, and fame, and money.
But nobody's ever stopped to explain to her
how to cope with that.
Freda grew up in brownsville,
where an insane and shameful
number of people end up behind bars.
I'm telling you, she was about to end that cycle.
But we failed her.
So, yes, I took a bullet,
but while Freda sleeps
in a cold cell in Brooklyn,
I'm recouping in my luxurious townhouse.
And, I'm sorry, that just doesn't sound like justice to me.
Given the dangers to Ms. gathers
and Mr. Lyon's statement of support,
the court agrees to Grant bail.
The people object, your honor. Duly noted.
We'll have you processed out.
In 50 seconds, see Tiana live
exclusively on Empire xstream.
Tiana's clap back song
is about to shut all these little boys down.
This better work.
What is he doing here?
I mean, it looks to me like
he about that club life maybe.
Yo, man, you mind? Hmm?
What's up?
Ugh.
Miss Cookie.
Please allow me to...
Ap...
You in my world now, so sit back and enjoy the ride.
Yes, ma'am. You might know this song.
And...
Spot.
Wait for it.
Just wait for it.
Pain, say hello to power.
Cookie, we're not that different.
I truly believe we could make this work.
If we want to.
Maybe we could make some great music together.
Yes!
That was hot.
You see these numbers we pulling here? Mm-hmm.
You telling me you trying to take
the music back from me, baby?
You might want to go and congratulate your little artist
over there. Excuse me.
I love that girl.
That's an amazing woman.
Did she ever tell you how she got the name "Cookie"?
Yo, I had a crazy weekend, man.
Friday and Saturday was insane.
First, my mom started trippin', but
I met this nice honey, though.
What's up, moonshine?
How we doing at the door?
Making bank, homie.
People going wild for them rhymes.
Yo.
Hey, yo, uh,
somebody here,
asking for loretha.
Uh-oh, the cook's plumbing Van
coming for Cookie again.
Loretha.
Nah.
From now on,
you're my Cookie.
Loretha? Uh...
Barry, what are you doing here?
Come to get my girl.
What's up, youngbo? Lucious.
Get your hands off me! Lucious, Lucious.
Nah, nah, I'm just gonna take him out the side door
and talk for a minute.
Look, Lucious, I'm not...
Just so we're clear, she's mine.
Long story short...
Baby boy should've walked away, but
he ain't had a good sense to.
But me and Cookie, we've been in this situation
many times before and somehow or another,
we always find ourselves back together again.
You what I'm saying?
We'll see about that.
Congratulations, my son, on getting Freda out.
See, sometimes you do
have to do the wrong thing to get the right results.
I had to, dad.
She would've been killed in there.
I know.
That's why I had her ass beat in there.
I mean, Freda was down for it.
She knew that was the only way
she was ever gonna get out of there.
Where the damn spoons at, man?
No, no, wait.
So, you're saying that Freda played me the whole time?
Even with the whole, uh, temporary insanity thing.
What I was most proud of
was the fact that you...
You paid off that doctor
to make reports for that judge.
'Cause, see, now,
no matter what she ever says
in a court of law, it'll never be credible.
So that nonsense about
me having something to do with whatever happened
with her father...
But the beauty is I didn't have to tell you to do it.
I didn't have to threaten you or nothing.
It was like it was second nature to you.
Like a Lyon.
How's it feel to know you're just like your daddy?
I'm seeing myself in you, man.
I'm working.
It's not your fault what happened, you know.
Do you think I'm a good person?
I'm not in a position to judge.
But I know you got work left to do
if you want to get over your PTSD.
Yeah.
We should just do it together. You want me to help you?
I don't see why not. I mean, you've been through it yourself.
All I know is that this is stupid.
I got to go on, uh, tour.
I got to get back on stage.
All right.
I'll call you to set it up.
Cool.
Have a good night.
You, too.
You don't want to be mixing those
with alcohol, man.
No, you're right.
Um...
I wasn't even thinking.
I mean, I'm fine right now, anyway.
Okay.
That's a good song.
Thank you.
Mm.
An attack on me is an attack on each and every one of you.
He disrespected us.
All of us!
Lucious and Andre Lyon want a war.
So we war.
Where's nessa?
Where's nessa?!
Shine doesn't know I'm here.
Wait.
I'm sorry.
I can't.
Okay.
I want to.
But...
It's okay.
I know you lost your wife.
What?
I said I know you lost your wife.
You can do it.
Mr. Lyon.
We can do it together.
We'll both do it.
And it'll be really good.
Just like it always was.
Yeah.