Most mainstream takes on Hip-Hop culture tend to end in pure struggle. Fortunately, Lee Daniels’ Empire is one of the rare exceptions.
Despite having its fair share of melodramatic, soap opera moments, the show actually entertained and stood out from the crop of newcomers last year, landing FOX a bonafide hit. Not just on the Nielsen ratings but on the music charts as well. All the credit and praises are due to Timbaland for supplying the beats and musical authenticity.
With Taraji P. Henson’s portrayal of Cookie Lyon introducing fans to a bevy of new catch phrases and fodder for weekly memes, Empire set social media timelines ablaze. As season two gets ready to premiere this Wednesday, September 23 at 9/8c, we thought it was the perfect time to look back on how well Empire reflected real-life in the rap game by highlighting 10 things the show taught us about the music industry.
Before diving headfirst into the new season, be sure to refresh your memory by catching up on all the previous episodes with XFINITY On Demand™. Don’t forget to set your X1 DVR™ from XFINITY®, which allows you to record up to six shows at once, so you won’t have to miss a single episode of “Empire” or any of your favorite shows.
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Photo: FOX
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1. Good Music Matters
Much like the premature reports of Lucious being on his deathbed, Hip-Hop has been said to be dying for well over a decade now. Although the culture could do with a few less struggle rappers, it’s still alive and kicking thanks to torchbearers like Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and O.G. Kanye West, among others. With Timbaland behind the show’s score, Empire snagged the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list, a first for a TV series soundtrack.
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2. Music Industry Romances Are a Fickle Thing
Everyone can’t be the next power couple of music like Jay and Bey. So for every artist thinking about raising their profile by hooking up with a label mate like Hakeem did when he obeyed his thirst for Tiana, just don’t — especially when you’ve got a secret sugar (grand)mama bae on stash and your new girl likes girls. #DoingTooMuch
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3. Everybody’s Got Their Hand Out When You Finally Make It
It’s funny how money change a situation. Word to Ms. Lauryn. So it wasn’t that surprising when Jamal’s ex-wife Olivia came out of the woodworks with his alleged daughter once his voice was all over radio. Well, the whole married to a woman thing may have been, but the real shocker was when Bunkie got murked for trying to shake Lucious down for money. He didn’t even blink an eye. That man’s got ice water for blood.
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4. Only Trust Your A1 From Day One
While Cookie was troopin’ a bid for him, Lucious blew up on the music scene and eventually upgraded his arm candy to Anika aka Boo Boo Kitty. We’re sure that when he decided to put a ring on it that he never thought that she would spread like mustard. Not only did she smash the homie but she smashed his son. Bruh!
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5. One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure
We’ve seen it time and time again, an artist gets signed to a label only to languish on the shelf in musical purgatory. Eventually he or she gets dropped or released from their contract, and someone else takes note of their talent and hits the jackpot. Remember: No one wanted 50 Cent before Dr. Dre and Eminem scooped him up and struck platinum. In one of the season’s most shocking and accidentally funny (sorry, not sorry) flashback scenes, a furious Lucious placed a young Jamal in a garbage can after his middle son came downstairs wearing Cookie’s heels. Fast-forward a few years and the former black sheep of the family is now the heir to the Lyon throne.
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6. Industry People Are (Still) Shady
We’re not sure if Q-Tip was psychic or if showbiz just attracts snakes, but industry rule No. 4,080 still applies. The beef between Empire Entertainment and Creedmoor Records got super ugly once Billy Beretti got Anika to work for him after she dipped on Lucious. Although she didn’t dry snitch about her former bae’s health issues, Anika did plot on stealing his artists including Hakeem, which led to the whole sleeping with your almost step-mom affair. That’s grimy, B.
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7. The World Might Be Ready for An Openly Gay Hip-Hop Artist
Rumors of gay rappers have circulated for years, but not a single top-tier lyricist has stepped up to wave that flag with pride. At least not any male rap artists, as a few lady MCs have talked about their bi partisan ways. Similar to Jamal, Odd Future singer Frank Ocean outted himself on record and revealed in an open letter that his first love was a man. The admission was shocking but not damaging as Ocean’s debut album Channel Orange rose up the charts and his industry stock rose. At the end of the day, talent is what really matters, so that’s why Love & Hip-Hop LA’s struggle “rapper” Miles doesn’t get a pass for his reality TV shenanigans.
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8. My Name Is My Name
In the music industry people are defined by their name. It’s just sometimes our parents don’t make that an easy task. Empire Entertainment may have been built around Lucious Lyon, but he later revealed he was actually born Dwight Walker. That just doesn’t have the same regal ring to it as Lucious Lyon, so it’s no wonder he changed his branding. The character may be fictional, but we’ve seen the same go down in the real world, just ask Jamie Foxx. If you thought his last name really was Foxx with two x’s, then we’ve got a waterfront property in Vegas to sell ya.
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9. Controversy Sells
It’s the oldest and hardest truth of the music industry. If it’s not Jamal coming out the closet, Hakeem twisting his drunken Obama-bashing into press, or Lucious getting arrested, it’s anything 50 Cent, 2Pac or any other polarizing musician you can think of who can turn bad press into good profits.
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10. Family Always Comes First
At its heart, “Empire” is a story about family. As dysfunctional as things can get, it’s a given that they’ll have each other’s back when the chips are down. Case in point, even though Lucious has his boys at each other’s throats for a chance to run Empire, they easily put their differences aside when they found out their pops was diagnosed with ALS. At the end of the day, when the money, fame and fans are gone, all you’ll have left is family.
