Empire (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Cupid Kills - full transcript

Lucious starts seeing Angelo as a threat; Jamal takes his first big step towards recovery and faces Freda Gatz; Anika's return causes turmoil; Hakeem starts to have feelings for Nessa.

- 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 missi 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.

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Ah ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh... ♪

That's all you got?

Oh, man, come on.



♪ Uh... ♪

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.

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

- ♪ Oh, yeah ♪
- ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

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...

♪ I heard him say... ♪

this is what they're talking about.

That's why we need to
lock her down real quick.

♪ But he won't live
to see another day... ♪

Careful, son.

You're in the system now.

♪ I miss him ♪

♪ Another body, another victim ♪

♪ All because of this crooked system ♪

♪ They took him, they
cooked him, listen ♪

♪ Bruised and abused but
we refuse to lose again ♪

♪ Open eyes, we will rise ♪

♪ We gon' fight... ♪

Lucious.

♪ We won't die, we're alive ♪

♪ Because we're ♪

Something for your new wife.

♪ Ain't going nowhere,
we're standing here ♪

Let's just
close this thing, Shine.

♪ No more crying ♪

♪ No more blood and tears ♪

♪ Woke, woke ♪

♪ We're built on strength ♪

♪ We've buried all our fears ♪

♪ We all see what's going on ♪

♪ No need to ring the
alarm cause we're ♪

♪ Woke... ♪

Andre.

♪ Everything gon' be all right ♪

Dre.

♪ We're aware... ♪

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?

♪ That are losing all their sons ♪

♪ What about all the daughters ♪

♪ That are losing... ♪

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.

♪ Won't you stop killing my people... ♪

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.

Iflf 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?

♪ Frère Jacques ♪

- ♪ Frère Jacques ♪
- Oh.

♪ Dormez-vous? ♪

♪ Dormez-vous? ♪

♪ Sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Ding, ding, dong ♪

♪ Ding, ding, dong. ♪

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.

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.

♪ Come inna de dance with
a spliff of sensi ♪

♪ Down with the sound called BDP ♪

♪ If you want to join the crew. ♪

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 $2½ 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.

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.

♪ Twists up your
spine, shake your behind ♪

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'.

♪ My head, it's like I need a Panadol ♪

♪ Whine up your body like you're
at a bacchanal, gal ♪

♪ Bruk out and whine,
twist up your spine ♪

- ♪ Shake your behind ♪
- ♪ Sexy gal ♪

♪ Your body perfect, work up a sweat ♪

- ♪ Love the way you set ♪
- ♪ Sexy gal ♪

♪ Boy, you know me look sweet ♪

♪ I could be the beat of your heart ♪

♪ Sexy gal, sexy gal ♪

♪ Sexy gal, sexy gal ♪

♪ Sexy gal. ♪

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 Bohème.

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

cooration.

Actually, I have
summered in Connecticut.

At the Danbury
Federal Correctional Instution

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.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

What is she saying?

Oh, um, it's the story of a woman cght

in between two men.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

You better sing that, girl!

I just don't ow what
he's doing with that hood rat.

That's our Angelo.

He's a true playboy.

Heartbrker
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?

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 Beyoncé.

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 Bohème?

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.

Touché.

- 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' 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 combination with
prescription drugs.

This lead to an episode of intense

temporary paranoia which
in turn, lead Miss Gathers

to take e 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...

ve Freda a record contract.

Anwith 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 ooklyn,

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.

♪ Il mio amore ♪

♪ Il mio amore ♪

Pain, say hello to power.

♪ Say y'all got
the magic touch but ♪

♪ Both of you been trippin' lately ♪

♪ I ain't really
'bout that rush life ♪

♪ Not you or you ♪

♪ Talkin' but you
sound so tongue-tied ♪

♪ Trippin' over me so crazy ♪

♪ Sorry but it doesn't phase me ♪

♪ Not you or you ♪

♪ Them boys say every day ♪

♪ Let me get a little bit... ♪
Cookie, we're not that different.

I truly believe we could make this work.

♪ I got me, I'm
good ♪ If we want to.

♪ They could try to
promise me forever ♪

♪ But nobody loves me like me ♪

♪ They could say
we're better off together ♪

♪ But nobody loves me like me ♪

Maybe we could make
some great music together.

♪ Oh, I aint never
met nobody better ♪

- ♪ Nobody loves me like me-e-e-e-e-e-e ♪
- ♪ Il mio amore ♪

♪ Like me-e-e-e ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e ♪

♪ Like me ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me ♪

♪ Il mio amore... ♪

♪ Il mio amore... ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me ♪

♪ They can try to promise me forever ♪

♪ But nobody loves me like me ♪

♪ They could say we're
better off together ♪

♪ But nobody loves me like me ♪

♪ This time keep
yours 'cause I got mine ♪

♪ Oh, I ain't
never met nobody better ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me-e-e-e-e-e-e ♪

♪ Like me-e-e-e-e ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e ♪

♪ Like me ♪

♪ Nobody loves me like me. ♪

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.

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.

♪ I woke up early Friday afternoon ♪

♪ Turn my radio up before
I step out the room ♪

♪ Lay my clothes on the
bed, make sure they press ♪

♪ For all the little
wannabes tryin' to take my fresh ♪

♪ But anyway now
I'm on my way outside ♪

♪ Saying hi to the
honeys as I'm passing by ♪

♪ When fights break out, you
know we ain't running ♪

♪ Only time we take off is when ♪

♪ Police is coming ♪

♪ No, we don't wanna hurt nobody ♪

♪ All we really wanna
do is party, yeah ♪

♪ No, we ain't tryna hurt nobody ♪

♪ All we really wanna
do is party, hey. ♪

♪ My Adidas ♪

♪ Walk through concert doors ♪

♪ And roam all
over coliseum floors... ♪

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.

♪ My Adidas standing
on two fifth street ♪

♪ Funky fresh and yes, cold
on my feet with no... ♪

♪ ♪

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

we always find
ourselves back together again. er,

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.

Sohat 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 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.

♪ I'm so lost in the
fog of this mirror ♪

♪ I'm in-between two places ♪

♪ And I'm... ♪

♪ I'm struggling ♪

♪ Said it's so, so hard
for me to do right ♪

♪ In the middle of wrong ♪

♪ I know I must stay strong ♪

♪ Ooh... ♪

Mm.

♪ This is crazy ♪

♪ How in the world did this happen? ♪

♪ Feel like I'm caught in this habit ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm stuck in-between wrong ♪

♪ And doing right ♪

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.

♪ Make it through the night... ♪

So we war.

♪ ♪

Where's Nessa?

Where's Nessa?!

Shine doesn't know I'm here.

♪ I know... ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Nothing like my father ♪

Wait.

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.