12 Real Musicians Who Appear On Empire [Photos]
photo: WENN
Snoop Dogg
While it hasn’t aired yet, the episode of Empire featuring Snoop making a cameo as himself has already been filmed. It’s a safe bet this will air closer to the time Snoop is rolling out his new album so he can cross promote.
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Gladys Knight
While it seemed like pulling out a sledgehammer just to kill an ant, the legendary Gladys Knight did make a cameo in Episode 3 only to sing at Bunky’s funeral.
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Anthony Hamilton
Much like Knight, Hamilton made a brief cameo in service to the Lyon family. He tickled the ivories during Episode 5 when Lucious proposed to Anika. Hamilton and his camp also wisely used the cameo to plug the single “The Point Of It All.”
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Bryshere Gray
Prior to acting on Empire, Gray rhymed under the moniker Yazz The Greatest. He never released a retail project on a major label, but while on the come up, Gray dabbled in street performances and opened up for Fabolous.
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Terrence Howard
Do remember that the first of the main characters on Empire with a record deal was Terrence Howard. As a master of the boho, barefoot soul movement, Howard had a legit deal with Sony and released the single Shine Through It in 2008.
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Jussie Smollett
On the three tiers of being a professional musician, Smollett is the highest-ranking cast member after announcing he’s signed a deal with Columbia Records. It’s quite the pay off for an actor/musician who landed the role in part by sliding into Lee Daniels’ DMs.
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Courtney Love
Being the widow of Kurt Cobain makes Love rock royalty. But her band Hole had some moderate success in the 90s, and anyone watching VH1 or MTV during that time probably remembers their hit song “Celebrity Skin.”
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Estelle
Last night marked Estelle’s acting debut as Delphine, and she got to plug her new song “Conqueror.” She’s taken some strange turns since blowing up with “American Boy” in 2007, but you can count on her to keep you guessing. And dropping a song in front of 11 million people is always a good look.
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Serayah McNeill
McNeill was making moves by singing her own original music and covers of other artist’s songs before a casting director gave her the Empire plug. How does she stack up with the rest of the cast? Hit up her SoundCloud page and judge for yourself.
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Sway Calloway
Sway Calloway had a burgeoning rap career with his partner King Tech way before Kanye was screaming that he didn’t have the answers. You can find their early work—“Follow 4 Now” and “We Want To Rock You”—and get familiar with the regional success Sway had as a rapper.
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DeRay Davis
Davis told Complex he was set to join Erick Sermon’s Def Squad imprint before he launched a comedy career. It turns out he raps too. But aside from the would’ve, could’ve, should’ve implications, DeRay does have credits for his jokes on Kanye West’s The College Dropout and his raps on “Weekend” by Focus…
