In a way, this parallels the modern-day narrative that is so often trotted out when it comes to the music business: that the “real” and most talented artists are never as popular or celebrated as the frothier, “manufactured” ones. Freda keeps dancing close to fame, but it remains elusive. And somehow everyone’s enamored with Lucious’ laughably bad “Boom Boom Boom Boom,” a song that she inspired and that she was originally featured on before he cut her out. Yet somehow, Hakeem wins that baffling rap battle, in which he comes with prepared lyrics, to counter her ostensibly freestyled and more clever verses. (To his credit, Jamal, who’s always reminding us that he’s “only about the music” soon realizes he made a mistake and that the creative chemistry he shares with Freda is far more important than having Stacy on his album.) And Jamal, for his part, swoops in to take advantage of Lucious’ inevitable abandonment and recruits her to be on his album once that break occurs. Cookie sets up the Stacy contract for Jamal specifically to get rid of Freda after discovering that she’s the daughter of Frank. He also uses her to hurt Hakeem by pitting them against one another (“I got three sons, and I identify more with you than any one of them,” he tells her). He wants to sign her to Gutter Life Records in part to make up for the fact that he had her dad killed in jail (at Cookie’s request) and so that he can regain his street cred with a tough rapper from the streets. Lucious’ intentions with her are never not self-serving, even if his initial admiration for her talents is genuine. As video of Erykah Badu singing in Times Square has proven, it doesn’t matter who you are - in New York, people are just too damn busy and/or ornery for your street singing shenanigans.It’s exactly that realness, her inability to dissemble (coupled with relative naiveté when presented with the opportunity to achieve her dreams), that makes it easy for her to become a pawn within the Lyon family’s neverending competition among one another. Hakeem’s protégé/love interest Laura (Jamila Velazquez) stops foot traffic in Manhattan by singing an impassioned Spanish-language version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Yes, she sounded great, but the show totally overdid it - they made it seem like busy New Yorkers are all too happy to stop, cheer and clap along with random street singers. New York: The Most Welcoming City on Earth Incidentally, “Boom” x 4 is one of the best songs Empire has turned out yet. Pushed to dig deeper into his traumatic childhood, Lucious takes the gun his mother (Kelly Rowland, as seen in flashbacks) would play Russian roulette with into the studio to add an extra edge to his “Boom Boom Boom Boom” collab with protégé Freda Gatz (Bre-Z). Lucious Brings a Gun to the Recording Studio When Hakeem walks in, Jamal ducks down and slinks out like a guilty interloper. In a subplot set up like a romantic tryst, Jamal meets Cookie at a restaurant, gets drunk and then spends all night recording with his mom behind his father’s back. Taylor Swift's July 1 Cincinnati Concert Will Start One Hour Early Due to 'Weather Situation'
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