Empire

Previously on Empire...

I want you to write a song for Angelo's campaign

and perform it at the Captain's Ball.

He had a DUI some 20 years ago.

His family pulled some strings and got him out of that.

Why you got shades on?

Boy, are you high?

Poor Tariq, he's jealous

of everything you got,

especially your memories of your daddy.

That's Freda Gatz.

You know, her father was locked up with Lucious at the BCC.

Seems "MM" and "BK" must have done something for Lucious and got paid.

The question is, who is "MM" and "BK"?

And as your mayor,

I will not only go to sleep fighting for you,

I'm gonna wake up fighting for you.

You're in Queens, brah.

You can't piss on my leg, tell me it's raining.

You come down here for a photo op,

then you limbo your bougie ass back across the river

for some uptown fundraiser.

Shut him down, Angelo.

He can't because he's telling the truth.

- Okay... - I got, I got it, babe.

- How y'all doing? -

The name's Cookie. Ask about me.

We know you. - Oh, you do?

Cookie Lyon. - That's right.

Where's Lucious?

Oh, forget about Lucious, baby.

I'm with him now.

Look here, y'all,

I-I'm just an around-the-way girl from the hood

in North Philly.

It looks almost like this one, but...

except for your bougie-ass beach.

Look, my daddy was a plumber

and we lived check to check,

so I wouldn't be with this man

if he wasn't the real deal.

If he wasn't a man of the people.

- Man of the people!

And so what, he went to Columbia?

That makes him smart.

But he still lives in the same fifth floor walk-up in Harlem.

Now you try walking up five flights in these heels, baby.

Hey, what about the Captain's Ball?

"The Captain's Ball"?

Yeah, well, we-we know there's a problem

with the Captain's Ball,

uh, that's why we've, um, decided to hold it

right here in the streets with you guys, with the people.

- - Tell them, Angelo!

- Yes, hell yes! -

And we're going to call it the People's Ball.

- That's right, baby.

The People's Ball, and you're all invited!

And my son, Jamal Lyon, will be headlining.

Angelo Dubois for mayor!

We'll see you then.

- Thank you.

- See y'all at the People's Ball. People's Ball.

500 major donors have pledged to this event.

Just invite them all here.

Yeah, it's too late to pull out now.

We've committed in front of all these cameras.

There is not enough time. You need permits, tents and security.

And who is gonna produce this street bazaar?

Well...

Cookie's the name. All right.

Bye-bye, baby.

You're getting a little too local, darling.

Just a little too local.

Oh, Mother.

Empire (2015) - 03x09 - A Furnace for Your Foe

Hey, hey, hold up.

Cut!

Jamal, you just fell off the stage.

All right.

Look, babe,

now the tape marks the edges of the stage at the Waldorf,

just follow your key light and don't go past it.

Seriously, Derek, like I don't know what the damn tape means?

- Come on, man. I messed up, I'm sorry. -

Yeah, but it's gonna be your little booty

that gets busted up, not mine.

I don't even know what the hell I'm doing this Captain's Ball for.

Why you're doing it?

You're doing it to remind everyone

that you're the dopest in the world.

All right, hey, quiet.

- Well, well, look at the little pimp, - Let's...

ready to take the stage, like a ho.

How you feeling?

Amazing, thank you, Philip.

- Of course. - Yeah.

Listen, don't you think you might want to do a couple of smaller venues

before jumping onto some kind of stage of this magnitude?

- Thanks for your concern, Dad. - Well, it's genuine...

but here, I got a little advice for you.

If you planning on doing some of them trash ass,

airing out the family laundry or something,

you'd be better off taking a handful of them damn pills all at once

and take a permanent dirt nap

and I'll see you in the next lifetime.

I'm off my meds.

Good.

- Let's go. - All right.

All right, from the top.

So, Rockaway Beach, day after tomorrow?

Yes, thank you.

- Ooh, Alonzo, I owe you, baby. -

- Yeah. -

I got to go, but I owe you big time, okay?

I got you, all right, okay, bye-bye.

Porsha!

Yes, girl.

Oh, I thought you was Porsha.

What the hell you want, Lucious?

I want to talk to you.

About?

- This People Ball thing. -

Look, you sure you can pull this thing off?

Well, I didn't do too bad with that Free Lucious concert

that helped save your janky ass.

Yeah, that's 'cause you're the baddest producer in the damn game.

Truth is I really do hope

that the whole thing is a smashing success.

It's about time New York had a black mayor again.

Well, the lineup is a who's who of our top artists.

I'm gonna start with a Hakeem and Tiana duet

and Jamal is going to be epic.

Or an epic fail.

Don't you think it's a little early to be putting him

on a stage in front of an uncontrolled crowd?

I mean, something like this could push him all the way over, Cook.

Am I to believe that "father of the year"

is suddenly worried about his son?

Look...

truth is, I just don't want you to make the mistake

of-of-of putting the needs of your boyfriend's campaign...

ahead of the needs of our son's health.

That's it. I know you, Cook.

You go all in.

But if this goes terribly wrong for Jamal, and it could,

you are going to hate yourself forever.

I'll get right to it, Your Honor.

What you just saw is authorized FBI surveillance video of rapper

Freda Gatz aka Freda Gathers, daughter of Frank Gathers.

The drug kingpin who was chopped up in prison last year.

Yeah, in those rap lyrics,

she referred to two men who worked for her father.

Both were with him in Brooklyn Correctional when he was murdered.

Agent Cousins, if you're hoping to get a murder indictment

based on rap lyrics...

This is an e-mail that leaked in the Empire hack a few weeks ago.

Uh, it mentions cash payoffs to the families of two men

identified only by their initials,

"MM" and "BK"...

Now, we weren't able to I.D. them until Gatz's lyrics filled in the blanks.

"MM" is Mikey Moses,

BK is Bobby "Bam Bam" King.

If you're implying that the Gathers hit was paid for

with Empire money, get to the who already.

Yes, Judge Chae, I give you the only man with the money,

the muscle and the motive to pull it off,

Lucious Lyon.

Well...

I've got a football game to go to, so...

I'll sign a court order freezing Empire's assets for 30 days.

It'll be up to you to gather enough evidence

to bring about a federal murder indictment against Lucious Lyon.

This smells personal, Agent Cousins.

- It better not be. - No, I assure you, sir,

I'm just trying to bring a dangerous criminal to justice.

Hmm.

- You got your ticket? - Here you go.

I thought I felt a certain chill in the air.

So, you're unhappy about my son's relationship with your ex.

Cookie and I have what you call history.

We share three sons.

She's the co-chair of my company.

So I watch her back.

But, lady...

don't ever try to read me.

I would never.

I read books, not graffiti.

But here you are asking me to bust up Cookie

and your little... cupcake?

I have no doubt that you would have done that already

if it were in your power to do so. No.

Our campaign has a bigger problem than Cookie Lyon.