The Nation of Islam is a sore spot for Lucious, as we find out (out of nowhere from Cookie) that Lucious’s father was killed by the Nation. (Henson is priceless in this scene, as Cookie puts her ghettoness on pause and dons a hijab and her “white” voice in order to speak woman-to-woman with Titan’s mother.) Cookie informs him of a meeting she had with Titan’s Nation of Islam–supporting mother, where she learns he’s part of the Fruit of Islam. This makes Lucious definitely want to sign Titan, even after he and Anika are nearly mowed down by drive-by gunfire after having a sit-down with Titan’s manager/cousin. (He apparently knows how integral Cookie is to Lucious’s fortune, since he threatens to take over Leviticus and call it Cookie’s.) He’s there to blackmail Lucious into stopping Empire’s IPO by threatening to divulge all of Lucious’s dirty little secrets about how he built his business. Baretti doesn’t show up at the club to tell Lucious to back off Titan.
It turns out Lucious was once signed to Baretti’s label but broke out when Baretti started slapping his own name on the song credits and bilking Lucious out of millions. the “hairy dingleberry” who signed Kidd Fo-Fo after Lucious dropped him.īaretti pops up in this episode, played by Judd Nelson, rocking thinning hair, a bulky build, and a goatee that says, “Yeah, I’m sinister!” He and Lucious have a showdown at Leviticus, where it’s revealed the two have a broken past. Of course Lucious wants him as part of the Empire empire, especially since he’s signed with Billy Baretti, a.k.a. Do these and other popular rappers actually exist in this show’s universe?) He’s also being held in Brooklyn Correctional for shooting a “Cashville” (do they live in Nashville?) gangster after one of his performances. (I’ve forgotten if these rappers have been mentioned in previous episodes. Those are the words Lucious says (with a straight face) about Titan, a scowling rapper who’s apparently bigger than Jay Z, Kanye, et cetera. And all it took was Empire Entertainment snapping up “the most authentic rapper since 2Pac.” Well, that was a surprisingly good episode.Įmpire resiliently bounced back after last week’s dismal installment ( which many of you gave me a lot of flak for criticizing) with “False Imposition,” an episode that certainly gave us a better understanding of these characters and their motives than have previous episodes.
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