"Something's going on." "I don't know what it is." " It's got him scared." " You got ALS." " What am I looking at?" " Three years." "I know you're sick." "There's no cure, I'm dying." "You come to my house and pull a gun on me?" "I want what's mine. (gunshot)" "They shot him in the face." " We gotta tell Cookie." " No, that was her closest cousin, man." "You just want to have sex with me now 'cause I'm a celebrity and all." "I want to have sex with you right on this floor." "Get in the car." "We need you to testify in front of a grand jury." " You gonna get me killed." " No matter what you do with Jamal, he's never gonna be as big as Hakeem." "I want to show you a sissy really can run this company." "Come out, and you're on your own." "♪ If you really got a thing for a bad, bad girl ♪" "♪ Oh, na, na, na, na, na ♪" "♪ Oh, na, na, na, na, na, I'm lookin' for a boy ♪" "♪ That can make a lot of noise when the trouble is going down ♪" "♪ I'm looking for a dude that can get me in the mood ♪" "♪ Wit a real big bank account ♪" "(laughs) ♪ Work it, he can fix it like MacGyver ♪" "♪ Pretty, but he acts just like his father ♪" "♪ So tell me you're the guy, you're about the life ♪" "♪ If you are, then I'll turn you out ♪" "♪ I'm looking for a hot boy ♪" "♪ So I can be a hot girl ♪" "♪ If you can be a bad boy ♪" "♪ Then I can be your bad girl ♪" "♪ I'm looking for a hot boy ♪" "♪ So I can be your hot girl ♪" "♪ If you can be a bad boy ♪" "Did Hakeem and Tiana hook up?" "Sure look like it." "Dad, we need to talk." "Dad, when are we gonna shoot my video?" "When you're about as hot as Tiana is." "Wiz Khalifa performed at the Webster Ballroom." "It's time to book a gig." "No, you get back in the studio." "Look, you might've think Laviticus was dope and all, but people only think I was there 'cause you own the club." "When you get back in the studio... we'll have this discussion." "♪ You're the guy, you're about that life ♪" "♪ I'll give it to you all night long, I'm looking for ♪" "♪ I'm looking for a hot boy ♪ ♪ Where they, the hot boy ♪" "♪ So I can be your hot girl ♪ ♪ Bring that ass here, boy ♪" "♪ If you can be a bad boy, then I can be your bad girl ♪" " ♪ I'm looking for a hot boy... ♪" " Okay!" "Cut, cut!" "Let's reset." " Reset." "We'll try it again, everybody." " Where's my manager, Mel?" " Um, it's all gonna be okay." " You pushed me on purpose." " No, she didn't, Veronica." " Whatever." "It's all gonna be fine." "We'll take a little break, we'll start again." "I ain't happy about this, Lucious." "Veronica belongs out front, and you know it." "And you are?" "Mel." "Her manager." "Oh, I know you." "You're that freeloading cousin out of Atlanta." "You know, I'm-a hold you to all them promises you ain't kept when you signed her... or you gonna need some more protection." "Yo, watch how you talkin', homey." "No, no, no, relax." "Well, actually, uh, Veronica and I are gonna have a... discussion later on this afternoon." "Yeah." "I'm-a be there." "We can have this discussion right now, if you'd like." "Right in my trailer." "Let's talk." "I'm sorry if you've had any type of confusion with what we were supposed to do, right?" "We're gonna handle it." "Yeah, absolutely." "Let's talk." "Can I have this for a second, babe?" "Sure." "I don't want to be disturbed." "(muffled) Now, what the... (thumping)" " (Mel grunting)" " What'd you say?" "Protection." "Now who needs protection?" "(thud, groaning) Huh, huh?" "Mel had a little accident." "You might need to clean that up." " Yes, sir." " And tell Veronica her ex-manager won't be joining us for the meeting." "Cookie, what are you doing?" "Nothing." "Why you blocking me?" "'Cause this is Anika's shoot and I'm not letting you mess this up." "Come on." "Ain't nobody trying to go in there, anyway." "I came down here to talk to you." "I'm here." "You ain't got nothing to tell me about Bunkie's funeral?" "I've been calling you." "Look, I'm handling that, okay?" "Oh... okay." "Well, can you share?" "He was my cousin, Lucious." "Look, I got something really special planned for Bunkie." "But right now, I gotta get back to work." "You gotta trust me." "Let me go in...- No, I'm-I'm working, Cookie." "Get off of me." "Better be glad I don't feel like no scene today, 'cause I'd shut it down." "You look nice." "And once you've made your selection, E.W. Green will take care of getting all the floral tributes from the church to the cemetery." "Hey, Becky, um, we heard back from Gladys concerning Bunkie's funeral?" "Yes, sir, Gladys Knight is in." "Sorry to interrupt, Dad." "I wanted you to see this right away." "This guy's intricacies of rap are on a par with Tupac's as far as street and D-Boy lyrics." "I think he's an ace of spades that we should have..." "Who in here was aware that" "Kidd Fo-Fo signed with Creedmoor?" "Well, I hadn't heard, but I don't see what the problem is, since we're the ones that dropped him." "The problem is," "Beretti's controlling the story." "And that article makes it look like he was poached from me." "And I want to hit him back." "Mo-Mo-Most of Creedmoor's biggest stars are in EDM, and Empire doesn't really do EDM." "Billy Beretti tried to ruin me." "He is my enemy." "Go after him." "I want to know who the hairy dingleberry had dinner with last night, what parties he went to, who he's trying to sign." "Uh, sorry to interrupt." "(whispers):" "There's a detective waiting for you in your office." "It's about Bunkie." "So sorry to keep you waiting, Detective." "Not a problem." "You want anything to drink?" "No, thank you." "Thank you." "Sorry to interrupt you in your office, Mr. Lyon." "It's all right." "I'm your biggest fan, though." " I appreciate that." " All right." " Have a seat, Detective." " Oh, thank you." "Y'all got any leads on who killed my friend?" "As a matter of fact, we had our first break early this morning." "A man checked into the Bowery Mission late last night, and... he claimed that he witnessed the murder." "Wow... saw it with his own eyes?" "We believe we have an eyewitness." "That's... that's great news." "(chuckles) Yeah, wow." "So, Dad, you wanted to see me?" "You still got your contact down at city hall?" "Yeah, why?" "Well, the police think they got a witness for Bunkie's murder." "I don't trust those clowns not to screw it up, so I want to find out who it is, so when the DA decides not to pursue it, I can make sure that justice gets served." "Can you get on that?" "Yes, sir." "Right on." "♪ I'm full of ABCs ♪" "♪ That turn to MP3s ♪" "♪ A Bloody Mary mix ♪" "♪ A spicy fantasy ♪" "♪ Oh!" "♪" "♪ We take the party from ♪" "♪ The table to the floor ♪" "♪ And poppin' bottles ♪" "♪ Like we never left the sto' ♪" "♪ Lookin' to' up..." "The party's... ♪ Next!" "Next." "(deep sigh)" "Andre, did you hear that mess?" "Back in the day, there were songwriters who actually knew how to write songs." "You should talk to the Jorgensons." "They're out by the conference room." "Porsha." "Get your notebook." "Follow me." "I know, I will handle the Gaga deal, you handle the Usher." "You gotta be kidding me... those two white boys are the Jorgensons?" "Those two white boys charted four number-one hits last year." "Really?" "Hi." "I'm Cookie Lyon." "I founded the company." "I need you to write a song for my son, Jamal Lyon." "He's one of our most promising new artists." "Found it?" "I believe it means originated." " Mmhmm." " I do not know company Jamal?" " No, no, no, no." "I founded..." " Hans," "Bjorn. (laughs)" "Hey!" "Morning, Anika!" "Oh, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting." "Oh, no, no." "No, no, no." "Oh... (speaks Norwegian)" "(imitates Norwegian) I'll talk to y'all later, okay?" "(quietly):" "Bitch." "Why are you auditioning songwriters, Mom?" "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to tell him." "Sorry." "You wasn't supposed to tell him." "Look, Jamal, I listened to your stuff, and you're good, baby, but you don't have that breakout hit, okay?" "And you bitched out on me after you told me you was gonna come out in public, so..." "Just step off, all right?" "Your brother Hakeem blew up after Laviticus." "Okay." "Now there is only one thing that can compete with that, and that is a num..." "A song that's a hit." "She my manager now, too?" "Porsha, please sit down." "Give us some space." "Every artist from Michael Jackson to Usher did songs by other people." "Even your father." "Ma, I write my own stuff." "Period." "Okay, look, I know I've been out of the game for a while, but I still got my instinct." "And you got to trust me." "Hakeem is good, but you are more talented..." "Why don't you stop pitting me against him?" "He is my brother..." "I will talk about him any way I want." "Total shares of common stock private offering is gonna be thirty..." "Lucious, we got to talk." "What is this?" "This is Gus." "He's a private detective that I hired." "You did what?" "!" "He ain't cheating on you." "I hired him to follow Cookie, fool." "Baby, I..." "I don't trust her." "She's mad at you, and I had a feeling she was gonna do something to hurt you." "And?" "These were taken last Friday night, right outside Laviticus." "What is this?" "All right, well, who... who are these people she's talking to?" "Well, I ran the plates, nothing came up, so I got no proof, but I do got a lot of experience in this sort of thing, and I would bet my bottom dollar that those two are Feds." "What happened to you, cousin?" "(cries quietly)" "I thought I might find you here." "If it wasn't for Bunkie, none of us would've made it out of here." "He was loyal." "I wish I could say the same thing about you." "(sniffles) What?" "Who have you been meeting with, Cook?" "Did you snitch on me so you could get out of jail early?" "If I snitched on you, Lucious, would you be standing here?" "You can play country dumb with anyone but me." "Now, a week ago, you walked into my office and said you were gonna go to the SEC (sighs) and tell them that Empire was started with drug money." "You're the mother of my children." "Regardless of what has happened between us, Cookie, I love you." "But if anybody gets in the way of my plans for my company or my family," " I see as an enemy," " This is my family, too," " and I stop at nothing" " Lucious, and my company." " To destroy my enemies." " It's my company, too." "(indistinct chatter)" "I got a bone to pick with you." "Pick 'em." "'Cause I got bones, too." "Did you tell Lucious about the deal I have with the Feds?" "Look, I ain't told nobody nothing." "Shh..." "Look, I ain't seen Lucious" " in years." " Yeah, well, he knows something, and you're the only one I told." "You're my big sister." "I swear on my kids, okay, Cookie?" "I ain't told nobody nothing." "Oh, my God, is that... is that Ronny Brown?" "Damn!" "He had a hit record when I went away." "Man, it all went to hell when Puma bailed." "Mmm." "Puma wrote all his hits." "Puma..." "You know, that's not a bad idea for Jamal." "You got Puma's number?" "No, I told you, he up and disappeared." "Yeah, well, I need his number." "(crowd cheering) Work on that, Carol." "(cheering, whooping, applause)" "What are you crying about?" "His daddy would always rap him your songs." "My daddy died when I was little like you." "Not too far from here." "But, you know, men don't cry." "You want to be a rapper when you grow up?" "Here." "I believe in you, so... here's an advance on your first album." "When you're ready, you come see me." "(pipe organ playing)" "Handle it." "♪ What... ♪" "♪ A fellowship ♪" "Bunkie was a gambler, a drunk, and a degenerate." "♪ What... ♪" "But he was my friend." "♪ A joy divine... ♪" "Nobody in this room" " ♪ Leaning ♪" " Could even imagine..." " what, um..." " ♪ Leaning on ♪" "What Bunkie meant to me and..." " and my family." " ♪ The everlasting... ♪" "Amen!" "Amen!" "♪ Arms... ♪" "(cheering and applause)" "Back, as far back as I can remember, Bunkie was there for us." " (kisses, chuckles)" " I'm gonna leave it there." "Yeah." "Right. (chuckles)" "Okay." "Yo!" "Hey, y'all got to bounce." "Rasheed is coming." "He know about the drop." "Come on, man." "Hit the fence." "Go on." "Be cool, Rasheed." " I ain't strapped." " And we know about tough love." "Yes." "Well, I feel... responsible for my friend's death." "Because he came to me and... told me he needed my help." "I'll light a match and I will burn this bitch to the ground." "And I told him he got to stand on his own." "I wouldn't give you three nickels." "And I'm gonna regret that the rest of my life." "♪ The everlasting... ♪" "♪ On His arms ♪" "♪ His... ♪ (cheering and applause)" "♪ Arms...!" "♪" "Hallelujah." "For you, Bunkie." "(chuckles) Well, thank you very much." "Well, it is nice to see you again, Deputy Mayor Alvarez." "You're looking lovely." "And you're very charming, as always, Mr. Lyon." "Are you here to discuss the mayor's music educational program?" " If that's okay with you, yeah." " Whatever you want's okay with me." "(chuckles)" "Mmm." "A cop in the 25th precinct," "Detective Calvin..." "Mmm." "Walker... investigating the murder of my father's business associate." "I need to know who his key witness is." "Of course, Mr. Lyon." "Yeah." "The city would love to help you." "(reading quietly)" "Wow." "Doctor said I wouldn't have these cramps yet." "This is funny." "Babe, you've got to see this." "This is so cute. (chuckles)" "(grunts) You okay?" "Yeah." "My leg went to sleep." "Oh." "It's 'cause you've been standing on it all day." "You know, I think I know why" "Beretti's coming after me so hard." "Why?" "He's trying to sink this IPO." "Baby, relax." "You got to focus on all the positive, okay?" "Like the fact that we have the number two, three, and five albums in the country." "Whoop-dee-doo." "And Hakeem's single is blowin' up." "Ooh!" "Look at this." "This is them at SPiN." "That was a couple days ago." "She's gonna do well for Empire." "You know what I want to do?" "What?" "I want to keep them together." "Let's throw a little get-together this weekend" " here at the house." " Really?" " Like a little dinner." " Yeah?" "Mm-hmm." "I think I'd like that." "You know what I would like?" "What?" "I would like... the number... one album in the country." " I think we can work on that." " Mmm." "Found him here this morning." "His name is... and I'm not kidding here..." "Ol' Salty." "(scoffs) Good luck getting anything intelligible out of him." "All right." "How you doing, Ol' Salty?" "I'm drinkin' my liquor, sir." "We understand you witnessed a murder." "Woe to them that are mighty men of strength to mingle with strong drink." "Nothing he says will be admissible." "This is a waste of time." "All right." "(gibbers)" "Let us make a covenant that shall serve as a witness between us." "What are you trying to tell me, old man?" "Yeah, good luck with that." "All right." "You know what, he knows something." "Yeah." "(phone rings)" "I was just thinking about you, Deputy Mayor." "Mm-hmm." "That's perfect." "(chuckles) Okay." "Okay." "Bye." "Who was that?" "That's Deputy Mayor Alvarez." "My father heard the police have a witness to Bunkie's murder." "Turns out it's just some homeless guy." "They're trying to track him down." "Well, it must have taken a lot of persuading for you to get her to dig up police privileged information for you." "I would love to know how you did that." "You know the deputy mayor, babe." "(panting)" "She likes it like this." "(moans, pants) (chuckles)" "Call me her name, Mr. Lyon." "Deputy Mayor Alvarez." "(moans)" "♪ ♪" "(phone chimes)" "(phone chimes)" "♪ ♪" "Dirty bloody martini." "Up." "(sighs) I don't know what he knows and I don't know how he knows it, but Lucious is on some Darth Vader ish." "He might have an insider at the department." "All I know is the only person that knows" "I've been working with you is my sister." "Really?" "What's this?" "He's having me followed?" "They were taken by Gus Berger, some hack P.I." "He was hired by Anika Calhoun." "We took care of Berger." "It's your ex." "Lucious can't know we're FBI." "We spent five years building this case against Frank Gathers." "We won't have it compromised by your nosy ex-husband." "So we gotta come up with something, but fast." "We can't have anybody knowing what we're doing." "Okay, but I'm gonna need y'all to help me find somebody." "Cookie, we are the FBI." "It is not like you scratch our back, we scratch your back." "I need you to help me find an old friend, okay?" "His name is Puma." "All right." "All right." "Shut up." "Get out of here." "Thank you." " Yeah, I was loaded." " Yeah." "So this is the last time, Cookie." " Yeah." " You fail another alcohol test, and I'm hauling your tushy right back in." "Oh, please do, and in honor of this wonderful occasion, let me buy the first drink. (scoffs)" "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" "Mmm." "This is Officer Judy Carter, my..." " Your parole officer." " I know." "Oh." "Nice to meet you, Mr. Lyon." " Pleasure." " Listen, I have to tell you, the reason why I asked for this meeting here today was, uh, so I can get your autograph for my kid." " I hope you don't mind." " No, not at all." "I mean, if it means you're gonna lock her back up..." "I was wondering why you all were meeting" " in my conference room." " Yeah, well, if she skips another check-in or fails another alcohol test, that's exactly what's gonna happen to her." "Hey, could you make it out to Sebastian?" " Yes." "I have my own." " Oh, sure." "Is there a bathroom around here?" "Yeah." "Straight down the hall to the right." "Then jump out the window." "It's straight down." "It's down the hall to the right." "Thanks." "You know, she reminds me of the probation officer I had, back in the day." "Um..." "Rosenberg... baum... stein, whatever." "Couldn't stand that bitch." "(sighs)" "Look, I'm sorry about the attack at..." "Bunkie's funeral." "I was just really upset." "Yeah, I was upset, too, but I didn't take it out on you." "Well, let me make it up to you." "(scoffs)" "I'm inviting the family over to my house tomorrow to welcome Tiana, Hakeem's new girlfriend," "(scoffs) into the family." "So my sons are invited, but I'm not." "I'm inviting you now." "Come on, you gonna come or not?" "(sighs) Okay, Lucious." "Nice meeting you, Officer Carter." "Nice meeting you, Mr. Lyon." "And, mind you, I'll be the first one to let you know Oh... if she does anything wrong." "(laughs) Well, thanks for this." "My kid will cherish it." "I will cherish you locking her back up." "Yeah." "All right, Dwayne Robinson," "AKA Puma." "Want to know where to find him?" "Big animals, but you know..." "Cookie?" "!" "Puma?" "Cookie?" "!" "Wait... oh, wait!" "Don't step in the poo." "(both laughing)" "Everyone calls me Dwayne now." "Nicely done, fellas." "I don't go by Puma much anymore." "Please, have a seat." "Wow, you've really done good for yourself." "Damn, you look good, woman." "What have you been doing, bathing in buttermilk baths?" "Your skin is so smooth and soft and stuff..." "You are still the charmer." "Yeah... it never really worked with you, though." "Um..." "I think, I think I should go." "No, no, no, no, wait." "(laughs quietly)" "You didn't come all this way just to turn me down again, after 20 years, did you?" "Nah, um..." "I came because you are still the best songwriter I ever knew." "I wanted to see if I could get a song from you." "Ah." "(chuckles) Well..." "I'm not in the game anymore, Cookie." "Besides, I'm not feeling exactly generous towards Lucious." "Oh, no, no, it's not for Lucious, it's for my son Jamal." "Puma, he is dope." "I mean, he is just as talented as Lucious." "But... with a heart." "(both laugh)" "I wish I could help you, Cookie." "I really do." "But everything I do now is just trying to save these kids you see out here from getting in the same mess we did." "You know?" "Lucious is a son of a bitch for having you go down for him." "If you were my lady, you'd never have to do that." "Cookie, wait." "I'm gonna send you a song." "I think it'll work for your son." "Hell, I think you'll remember it." "(whoops)" "You know you like that." "Uh-uh." "You didn't know your mama could move like that, did you?" "(giggles)" "Ma, no offense, but this song is... is really old school." "I know it is, but there's something there." "You got to listen, listen." "See, you hear that?" "Yeah, I kind of like the little riff, but the, um... lyrics suck." "Lucious, the song is about a man who's in love with a woman who don't love him back." "(sighs)" "♪ Up all night... ♪" "Ah, I remember that hook." "I always thought that was a good hook." "Play it." "Play it!" "He ain't sad about it, he's desperate." "You need to pick up the tempo, man." "Okay." "I'm just not feeling this, really." "Yeah, yeah, you not feeling it because you know Puma wrote it." "You jealous 'cause he wrote it about me." "(chuckles)" "♪ Up all night... ♪" "See?" "See what I'm saying?" "Life would be so much easier if you just listen to me the first time." "Now, you play that for your daddy tomorrow." "It'll drive him nuts." "Oh, and I'm gonna bring your pin-up girl, Michelle." "Michael, Mom." "Whatever, child... and I dare your daddy to say something." "You know, I feel like you wanted to tell me something before." "You know?" "No-no-no-no-no... no, no, no." "Hey, don't be afraid." "There's nothing to be afraid of." "I can protect you." "Who did you see?" "The wolf." "Who's the wolf?" "The lamb." "Leopard." "The goat." "Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den." "He stooped down as a lion crouches." "The slothful man sayeth..." ""there is a lion in the way, a lion in the streets."" "Is this the lion?" "Huh?" "Yeah?" "I just heard back from my friend in the mayor's office." "The witness did not pan out..." "paranoid schizophrenic." "That's too bad." "Look, let's put a reward out there, as an incentive for them to keep searching." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Thank you, son." "Mr. Lyon, I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me." "I didn't invite you." "Thank her." "I know you don't know because you don't live here, but this is my house, and that's my chair." "Oh, girl, go sit down there with your daddy and be a good little girl." "Sweetheart... will you sit next to me, just for tonight?" "(whispering):" "I'm sorry." "(whispering):" "Why did you invite her?" "(whispering);" "I'm sorry." "I belong at the head of this table." "(clinking glass, clears throat) This my family." "Good evening, everyone." "Lucious and I are very excited to have you all here in our home, for dinner." "So, please, don't be afraid to dig in and enjoy." "Excuse me... in this family, we say grace before we shove food in our mouths." "So, shall we?" "Give me your hand." "Give me your hand, boy." "Lord, we want to give thanks for so many blessings in our lives." "And we want to thank you for the most precious blessing of them all... our family." "I prayed on bended knee, on many a night, that this day would finally come." "(coughs)" "And God, please do not withhold your blessings, even from ho's that hire skanks to spy on me." "In Jesus' name I pray." "Amen." "Hallelujah." "Come on in here, Jamal's gonna perform." "Ma, do we have to do this?" "Yes." "Don't be too intimidated." "This room is just slightly larger than those coffeehouses you normally play at." "(Lucious chuckles)" "You should stop through sometime." "Brooklyn hipsters love a blast from the past." "Touché." "This song is a little song written by a friend of Cookie's." "♪ Up all night ♪" "♪ Oh, yeah ♪" "♪ Haven't felt your love ♪" "♪ For some time now ♪" "♪ Damn, I miss your lips ♪" "♪ Next to my mouth ♪" "♪ And I can't wait to make up for ♪" "♪ The lost time ♪" "♪ 'Cause without you here ♪" "♪ I'd probably never sleep ♪" "♪ I look in the mirror ♪" "♪ Your face is all I see ♪" "♪ I want you on my pillow ♪" "♪ Give me your love ♪" "♪ I can't breathe ♪" "♪ Baby, come here ♪" "♪ So I can go to sleep ♪" "♪ You keep me up all night ♪" "♪ Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh ♪" "♪ You keep me up all night. ♪" "(whooping)" "Wow!" "HAKEEM:" "Hey.." "Wow!" "Did you just make that, though?" " Bravo, that was nice." " It was." "So you went to see..." "Puma." "Yes." "Does he still like you?" "That's none of your business." "But I'll tell you what is my business:" "That song." "I had never really liked it until I heard your version of it." "I mean, now I think that John Legend would kill that song..." "Lucious!" "On his new album." "I own the song." "I bought it from Puma, but I never saw its true potential until this moment, right here." "I think, son, you've got a great career as an arranger. (sighs)" "What has this money done to you?" "We need to..." "What has happened to you?" "Ma." "Ma." "Ma." "Ma..." "I complimented it..." "I said I liked the song." "Ma..." "You know that ain't worth it." "Come on." "I..." "You mean you wanted to do the song?" "You could keep the song, man." "I ain't want the song anyway, right?" "I'm sorry." "I didn't know you wanted the song;" "I didn't know that." "She told me, back in the day, that you couldn't make the song work." "Hmm?" "Tell me, how does it feel that your little girl could do something that you couldn't?" "You washed up." "And the songs that I'm writing will only further prove that I'm you, but on steroids." "Baby..." "Come on, Jamal, don't leave." "I'm leavin'." "No, no, no, let him go." "I mean, this night is to celebrate a man and his woman, not some sensitive punk and his bitch." "You are going straight to Hell." "(door closes)" "(sighs heavily)" "Jamal's song was hot, wasn't it?" "It was good." "Yeah." "Look, Hakeem, you are a made man." "Dad's boy." "So it doesn't matter whether you're as talented as Jamal." "Dad's gonna pick you, no matter what." "What did you just say to me?" "I said Dad's gonna pick you, no matter what." "I'm not Dad's boy. (chuckles)" "I'm my own man." "Okay." "And if I'm his favorite, maybe it's because" "I'm the most talented." "You the most talented?" "You know, I think you'd do a real good backup for "Up All Night." That sounds nice, right?" "You know what, man?" "I can't even..." "You know, brothers... the brothers getting together..." "You know I'm just messing with you, Mr. Insecurity." "Hakeem..." "Mmm, bubu kitty." "Just 'cause I asked Jesus to forgive you don't mean I do." "You need to watch your back." "Cookie, my father is a doctor." "And my mother was a debutante, and so was I." "Now, I know you been in jail for a minute, but do you even know what a debutante is?" "Hmm..." "A boozy ho with a lot of money." "A ho who can slice your throat without even disturbing her pearls." "Oh..." "Damn, that made me hot." "I aim to please." "What's that?" "Nothin'." "Just a little hypertension." "I thought you left." "I watched you while Jamal played tonight." "You're afraid of him, aren't you?" "I'm not afraid of nothing." "Yeah, you are." "You're afraid, because he's a true artist, and you can't deny it anymore." "Something's got you shook, Lucious." "Like it's chasing you and you don't want it to catch you." "Now, I don't know if it has anything to do with Jamal, but whatever it is, you're trying to hide it." "But you know you can't hide from me." "(whispering):" "You can't hide from me, Lucious." "Baby." "Hm." "(soft kissing sounds)" "You think Jamal more talented than me?" "Who cares?" "You're the one." "You are going to inherit the kingdom." "Why does everyone say that?" "Like the only reason I'm where I am is 'cause my father cut checks for me?" "You know I killed it at Laviticus last week." "That was me." "Nobody else did that." "I read about it." "Unfortunately, I wasn't invited." "You know why I gotta keep us on the low." "But you're everything to me." "Right?" "You know that." "I'm not sure I do, my darling." "I mean... we've been seeing each other for over a year." "Tell me... tell me, who am I to you?" "You're my mama." "Tell me again." "Who am I to you?" "My mama." "Just let it go." "I can't let it go." "The more I play it, the more I want to win." "(phone ringing)" "Hello?" "Right now?" "My dad's downstairs." "He's coming up, right now." "What?" "!" "Don't look back there." "It's the bedroom." "It's where we make the gay love." "Enough." "(door slams)" "Why are you here?" "I don't know." "I wanted to see you." "You saw me tonight." "I sang a song for you." "I arranged that song for you because I love you and you spit in my face." "Spit in your face?" "I've tried to tell you since you were a baby that it's not about black eyes or bloody noses in this world, it's life or death, and if you don't toughen up, these streets will eat your ass alive." "Since I was a baby, you beat me." "You told me that was to "toughen me up."" "That was a lie." "You beat me because you hate me." "And you always will, because I'm always gonna be who I am." "I don't hate you." "I don't know you." "I didn't bring any women into this world, and to see my son become somebody's bitch?" "I don't understand you!" "You don't have to understand me." "You don't have to understand me or have anything to do with me." "I'm a man." "A man." "So you can keep that stupid-ass song and your money and... and whatever else that Lucious Lyon thinks that he owns." "My obedience is no longer for sale." "Nice speech, kid." "Especially hearing it in the apartment that I pay for." "Michael." "Yeah?" "Pack your bags." "We're getting out of here." "You serious?" "Dead serious." "We'll be out in 15 minutes." "Jamal, why you gotta be so dramatic?" "Look, I'll leave the keys on the table for you;" "you'll probably need 'em in the morning." "I really won't." "(quietly):" "Yeah, you will." "Where are we gonna go?" "I don't know, we'll figure it out." "You sure you want to give everything up?" "Hey!" "I'm not giving up anything." "I'm going after his Empire." "I'm gonna take it."