Empire

Previously on Empire...

You got to protect

- this angel with your life. - I will.

You on your way to being woke.

Make some music that means something.

This is the head of the gaming commission,

Charlotte Frost.

I did not expect this. I'm impressed.

You and Nessa are out.

Get your men together. We're gonna take him out.

The last track on When Cookie Met Lucious is gonna be

about our mother finding happiness.

Will you marry me?

I still have feelings for him.

I compromised the integrity

of my campaign.

For you!

They messed with the wrong clan.

They're going down.

Wait, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. DJ.

DJ, baby, right now, you're riding this like it's a rainbow.

You got to ride these quarters

like you're the space shuttle trying to break through

the Earth's atmosphere.

Ugh. This arrangement is hot.

It's a thousand degrees hot.

This joint's crazy.

Okay, stop, stop, stop.

Flag on the play.

This just ain't your track, bro.

I'm sorry. Y'all, I can't, I ain't, I'm not stupid.

I literally hate this song.

Yo, Lucious.

Man, why don't you stop playing around

and dip my boy in some of that sauce, man,

give October some of that heat for the street?

If this is supposed to be the last song of the album,

it needs to be a better song.

That's because the last song on the album

is supposed to be how I broke free

from the chains of Lucious

and got me a better man.

What's wrong, baby?

Lucious, come in and take a five, sweetheart.

I've got to finish this album

before we even think about mounting this show in Vegas.

Everything. It's the song. And I'm not,

I'm not hearing nothing. I'm not hearing it.

We're never gonna finish this album on time.

Oh, well, yes, the hell we are.

Let me go dig in some crates,

see what kind of inspiration I can come up with for this boy,

before I have to go in and choke his ass.

I'm sorry, I'm gonna take you out on this one, Tommy.

Whatever you need. It's your track.

- I'm sorry, bro. - No, it's all good. We'll work it out.

It's my fault, baby,

because I'm in a foul-ass mood,

'cause I'm looking in this room and I'm seeing

a bunch of people I don't know,

eating up my damn food.

Do I know any of y'all?

If I don't know you, you got three seconds

to get the hell out of here.

I'm not gonna say it again.

Come on, let's get the goings going on, people.

Let's get the goings going on.

Now, you can leave that here, my friend.

- Thank you. Hey! Okay.

No, you, you,

you gave everything you had in there,

but it's still trying to push the square...

Lucious, Lucious. Can I talk to you for a second?

Hey, I'll see myself out.

Thank you for understanding. Always, man.

- Much respect. - How you doing?

All right.

So, um, did you hear?

About me and Angelo?

Yeah, you told me.

Um, congratulations, I'm really happy for you.

No.

We broke up.

I, um, I said no.

Why?

Well, because,

I-I guess I finally realized that, um...

Lucious?

I think you need to come and talk to Snoop.

Cookie.

What is she doing in the studio with you?

Because you said that woman was the devil.

No, that's not what I said.

That's what you said.

: Lucious...

I need you, darling.

Look, I got to go.

I'm sorry about Angelo.

You seem upset, sweetie, what's wrong?

Nah, I'm good.

Hmm.

So I'm-a be honest with you, man,

I'm a straight-up perfectionist,

like you, and I love Tommy,

but his vocals wasn't right for this track.

But you gonna be happy when it's all said and done,

'cause it's gonna mean

a better return on your investment, man.

That's right, and the deal memo's being drawn up

as we speak.

Ready to sign as soon as we're done here.

I ain't said yes yet.

Hey, hold on, hold on.

Think about it. Look at it this way, man.

You know how much money we spent in Vegas?

Black people spend billions of dollars

in their gambling, supporting their fights,

supporting their clubs, even supporting their strip clubs.

Am I right, Thirst?

Okay. (laughing): Okay...

- (laughter) Little bit.

But not one time have they let us

hang one flag up in there.

Well, you know, you got to understand this, Lou.

They don't really respect us.

They afraid of us.

And then that thing that happened in 1996.

And on top of it all, they're racist.

Yeah, but Inferno's gonna change all of that.

I've already laid the groundwork

with the Nevada Gaming Commission, Snoop, we're good.

Look.

You know, be 100 with a brother, man.

What's up, dude?

All right, let me keep it real with you, yo.

Now, you said Inferno was gonna be for Empire

what Chronic was for Death Row, right?

A to the men, man.

I hear you Lucious,

but where's Jamal at in this equation?

I don't think it makes sense without him.

Yeah, you know Dre?

That was my dawg.

And my dawg gonna stay my dawg.

But The Chronic wouldn't have been The Chronic

if I wasn't on it.

Now, you put it out there

that Inferno was gonna have Empire's biggest artists.

So to me, Jamal has to be a part of it.

All due respect, baby, you were crucial to The Chronic.

That's how crucial I am to Inferno.

I don't need no other artists.

I don't need my son, or anybody else,

to make this a hot album, because it is what it is,

you know what I'm saying, man?

This is good business, Snoop.

I respect your business hand,

you know that.

It's not even about that.

But I just want you to hear me out on this.

Jamal brings...

that other audience.

A different demographic.

So with him on the team,

it ain't nothing we can't do.

Look, I don't care how you spin it,

and whatever floats your boat, but you will be on Inferno.

Or what, Dad, you gonna, you gonna ground me?

Come on, man, I got things to do.

What, you have work to do?

At a studio, at a label

that you're under contract. Remember that.

Oh, so that's how we gonna play this.

'Cause guess what, old man, last time I checked,

you are not the only CEO at this company.

This ain't about me versus your mama, man.

It's... I'm offering you an opportunity.

Look, Inferno's gonna be an album

like never before.

And that's why Snoop and October London,

and everybody wants to be a part of it, 'cause they know

that they're gonna be a part of making history.

Okay, but I'm not challenging that.

Make your history.

I'm-a make my own history.

Or I should say, I'm-a try to rewrite the history

of you and your crazy-ass family.

Do Inferno.

I'm-a do When Cookie Met Lucious.

We good.

Hey, Ma.

What are you doing here?

Nessa said she was afraid you might do something reckless.

Nessa.