1 00:00:00,031 --> 00:00:02,765 <i>- Previously on Empire... - I'm not giving up on my group, Ma.</i> 2 00:00:02,850 --> 00:00:05,084 <i>If I don't find a girl in a week, I drop it.</i> 3 00:00:05,152 --> 00:00:07,854 Gutter Life Records... It's a defunct label, 4 00:00:07,922 --> 00:00:08,905 but they got that raw sound 5 00:00:08,989 --> 00:00:10,573 <i>that I've been looking for.</i> 6 00:00:10,658 --> 00:00:13,059 You got something, and it don't come around every day. 7 00:00:13,110 --> 00:00:14,360 Let me help you do something with it. 8 00:00:14,411 --> 00:00:15,728 MAN: Come on, Freda! 9 00:00:15,779 --> 00:00:17,530 You need a god to produce you. 10 00:00:17,581 --> 00:00:19,398 <i>You need me to produce.</i> 11 00:00:19,450 --> 00:00:20,867 <i>JAMAL: I feel like you're the new Warhol.</i> 12 00:00:20,918 --> 00:00:22,502 God, you are gorgeous. 13 00:00:23,621 --> 00:00:25,255 (grunts) 14 00:00:26,406 --> 00:00:28,574 Lucious... he wants your music, Cookie. 15 00:00:28,626 --> 00:00:29,575 He wants everything. 16 00:00:29,627 --> 00:00:30,760 God's been speaking to me. 17 00:00:30,844 --> 00:00:33,012 He wants me to keep seeking Empire. 18 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,914 What'd you do to your Uncle Vernon? 19 00:00:34,965 --> 00:00:36,099 Stop it! Stop it! 20 00:00:36,183 --> 00:00:37,133 (grunts, gasps) 21 00:00:38,018 --> 00:00:39,352 You saved my life. 22 00:00:39,419 --> 00:00:41,221 Welcome back to the Empire. 23 00:00:41,272 --> 00:00:42,722 (screams) 24 00:00:43,941 --> 00:00:45,258 From the streets of Philadelphia 25 00:00:45,309 --> 00:00:47,093 <i>to the top of the Billboard charts</i> 26 00:00:47,144 --> 00:00:49,262 to the balcony of the New York Stock Exchange, 27 00:00:49,313 --> 00:00:51,614 to a prison cell in Brooklyn, 28 00:00:51,699 --> 00:00:54,100 Lucious Lyon has emerged a free man. 29 00:00:54,151 --> 00:00:56,269 (cheering) After a four-month ordeal, 30 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,271 all charges against him have been dropped, 31 00:00:58,322 --> 00:01:00,406 and Judge Erskine Robbins has granted the motion 32 00:01:00,457 --> 00:01:02,959 to dismiss. That's how you close a case. 33 00:01:03,043 --> 00:01:06,546 Yeah, they ain't really calling it a suicide? 34 00:01:06,613 --> 00:01:08,131 Yeah, the feds are embarrassed. 35 00:01:08,215 --> 00:01:10,449 Had no case without him. They didn't feel they want nobody 36 00:01:10,501 --> 00:01:13,553 to know the dead body popped up in the prosecutor's car. (laughing) 37 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:15,171 So I heard. 38 00:01:15,256 --> 00:01:16,956 Good to see you. 39 00:01:22,963 --> 00:01:24,814 (sighs) LUCIOUS: Andre! 40 00:01:25,849 --> 00:01:28,184 Welcome back to the Empire, son. 41 00:01:28,269 --> 00:01:29,819 Congratulations, Pop. 42 00:01:29,903 --> 00:01:31,154 You beat the rap. 43 00:01:31,238 --> 00:01:32,989 Yeah. Thanks to you. 44 00:01:33,073 --> 00:01:34,824 And that prosecutor... She, uh... 45 00:01:34,908 --> 00:01:36,943 took a leave of absence. 46 00:01:36,994 --> 00:01:38,661 Let's not talk about that here, Pop. 47 00:01:38,746 --> 00:01:40,947 Okay. Business it is. 48 00:01:40,998 --> 00:01:44,083 Oh, by the way, I signed a new artist to your label, 49 00:01:44,151 --> 00:01:45,818 Gutter Life... her name's Freda Gatz. 50 00:01:45,869 --> 00:01:47,537 You're gonna meet her later on. 51 00:01:47,621 --> 00:01:49,822 Andre, nice to see you without a shovel. 52 00:01:49,873 --> 00:01:51,791 We got a slew of reporters outside. 53 00:01:51,842 --> 00:01:54,594 They ain't gonna go away until they get a statement from you. 54 00:01:54,661 --> 00:01:55,795 I'm not saying nothin' to them 55 00:01:55,846 --> 00:01:57,297 so they can twist my words around. 56 00:01:57,348 --> 00:01:59,215 No, you really should make some sort of statement, Pop. 57 00:01:59,300 --> 00:02:00,183 THIRSTY: Yeah... 58 00:02:00,267 --> 00:02:01,851 to the Empire! I mean... (chuckles) 59 00:02:01,935 --> 00:02:03,219 that's your thing, right? 60 00:02:03,304 --> 00:02:04,687 Yeah. Y'all want me to say something? 61 00:02:04,772 --> 00:02:06,689 THIRSTY: Yeah. 62 00:02:06,774 --> 00:02:08,608 Let me see your phone. 63 00:02:12,863 --> 00:02:14,814 COOKIE: Throw your hair back. Uh-huh. 64 00:02:14,865 --> 00:02:17,350 Your angle is here, honey. Up, up. 65 00:02:17,401 --> 00:02:19,452 Work the camera, honey. 66 00:02:19,519 --> 00:02:20,686 Yes, girl! Work! 67 00:02:20,738 --> 00:02:23,990 We need some more oil on her legs, honey. 68 00:02:24,041 --> 00:02:25,491 ♪ 'Cause now I'm like, ooh, ooh ♪ 69 00:02:25,542 --> 00:02:27,210 ♪ Send me up in the club, like... ♪ 70 00:02:27,294 --> 00:02:28,711 Yeah, I think you got it, T. Cool? 71 00:02:28,796 --> 00:02:30,663 - Okay. Thanks. - Mm-hmm. 72 00:02:30,714 --> 00:02:32,465 Oh, thank you. 73 00:02:32,532 --> 00:02:33,532 (smacks lips) 74 00:02:33,584 --> 00:02:36,035 (sighs) What's up? 75 00:02:36,086 --> 00:02:38,537 Porsha set up this dumb phone with these stupid-ass alerts, 76 00:02:38,589 --> 00:02:40,039 and I can't figure it out. 77 00:02:40,090 --> 00:02:42,342 - Can you fix it? - Where is she, anyways? 78 00:02:42,393 --> 00:02:44,377 I fired her 'cause she got me arrested. 79 00:02:44,428 --> 00:02:45,595 Now, fix my phone. 80 00:02:45,679 --> 00:02:46,846 (phone beeping) 81 00:02:46,897 --> 00:02:48,681 Uh, it's Lucious. 82 00:02:48,732 --> 00:02:50,049 What? 83 00:02:50,100 --> 00:02:51,234 Hey, Ma, I want you to meet somebody. 84 00:02:51,318 --> 00:02:53,936 Boy, get over here and see what your father posted. 85 00:02:56,490 --> 00:02:59,275 LUCIOUS (on video): The truth is, I'm innocent. 86 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,362 I was being targeted... nobody ever had a case against me. 87 00:03:02,413 --> 00:03:05,164 <i>And all those people that think they got a problem with me,</i> 88 00:03:05,232 --> 00:03:06,332 y'all can kiss my ass. 89 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,534 Your father's a heartless bastard. 90 00:03:08,585 --> 00:03:10,703 Vernon's body ain't even... Mom. 91 00:03:10,754 --> 00:03:13,539 Tiana, I want you to meet my new lead singer Laura. 92 00:03:13,590 --> 00:03:15,741 Laura, meet Tiana. Oh, my gosh, I'm a big fan. 93 00:03:15,793 --> 00:03:17,377 Thank you. 94 00:03:19,963 --> 00:03:21,631 Tiana, uh, can you show Laura 95 00:03:21,715 --> 00:03:23,249 to the studio? I'll be in there in a minute. 96 00:03:23,300 --> 00:03:25,184 Yeah. Thank you, babe. 97 00:03:25,252 --> 00:03:26,386 Mm-hmm. 98 00:03:28,806 --> 00:03:30,273 Are you two...? 99 00:03:30,357 --> 00:03:32,024 Uh, no. Not anymore. 100 00:03:32,092 --> 00:03:33,893 He's like that with all the girls. 101 00:03:33,944 --> 00:03:37,096 But he was just telling me and Cookie that you can really blow. 102 00:03:37,147 --> 00:03:39,565 What? He thinks you got a million-dollar voice. 103 00:03:39,616 --> 00:03:41,484 You know, I can't wait to see 104 00:03:41,568 --> 00:03:43,619 what he's gonna do with you, Laura.