03x06 - Chimes at Midnight

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Empire...

Wait till I launch Empire XStream.

Y'all gonna wish y'all made this deal.

I want you to destroy Gram.

Battle me.

I designed my own little streaming apps.

I'm-a have you bloody and trending worldwide.

You don't want to be mixing those with alcohol, man.

That song she did at Laviticus is already getting crazy heat.

And that song's not what she wants.

I agree with him.

Lucious: Did he tell you that he put in a bid to run for mayor?

You think he's gonna do that with a convicted felon on his arm?

Imagine what you could do with your own imprint.

Lucious: Man, you better go get your girl back.

♪ ♪

[doorbell rings]

All right, all right, hold your horses!

I'm coming.

[doorbell rings]

So sorry I'm late.

Tiana's having a little breakdown.

Hey.

I'm sorry.

This is for you.

Oh. Thank you.

Come here.

Thinking of me on your big day?

Yes. You know some traditions can't be disrupted.

[laughs]

Move, I got to get dressed.

Hey.

Let me help you get dressed. Come here.

[laughs]: No, I can do it.

Here, wait.

[phone chimes]

Wait, one sec, one sec, babe, one sec.

It's okay.

Wait.

Oh, no, that can wait.

What's under this?

[laughs]

Yeah.

No, no, no.

All right, look.

What's up?

I don't want our first time to be when you're getting ready to run for mayor.

You're distracted.

[phone chimes]

See? Saved by the bell.

Stay right there. I'll be back.

[phone continues chiming]

Baby, I'm gonna have to go.

Okay!

[phone chimes]

[laughs] You sent me an e-mail?

I sure did.

Open it up.

Oh, a photo of... of all of you.

Yes.

Just a little reminder that you have my vote, Mr. Mayor.

Well, all right.

Mm-hmm. Mm-mm.

Go do mayor stuff. Bye-bye. [laughs]

Bye.

[sighs]

[song playing over phone]

Ugh! What? Stop it!

♪ But nobody loves me like me ♪

Why is this playing?

♪ They could say ♪
♪ We're better off together... ♪

Ugh! Stop it!

Shut up, Tiana!

Jamal: ♪ They're calling you the Carrie ♪
♪ And I'm your Mr. Big ♪
♪ A fairy tale hidden under some other nonsense ♪
♪ But like we say, we're in a place... ♪

Derek, I'm sorry. It's still... it's too busy.

I don't know. We need to strip that down or something.

Strip all of it away. It's too busy.

Oh, you buggin', man.

[music stops]

This is a banger.

Yeah, all right. Let's just wait for some fresh ears till my mom gets here.

You okay?

Yeah, I'm fine.

I'm just, I'm off my pain meds.

What?

Philip freaked me out about all the artists that get addicted to opiates. He's right.

Yeah, well, that Philip dude is a little extra.

[over phone]: ♪ They can try to promise me forever... ♪

Yo, what's that?

♪ But nobody loves me like me... ♪

I don't know.

♪ They could say we're better off together ♪
♪ But nobody loves me like me... ♪

The hell?

♪ This time, keep yours 'cause I got mine, oh... ♪

[Bella crying]

♪ Hush, little baby ♪
♪ Don't say a word ♪
♪ Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird ♪

Shh, shh, shh, shh.

♪ And if that mockingbird don't sing ♪
♪ Mama's gonna... ♪

You sound like a wounded wildebeest in here.

Man, whatever.

She's a Lyon.

She knows when somebody's singing off-key.

[sighs]

I got something she'll love.

[gentle chiming melody playing]

[Bella quiets]

How's that, Daddy's baby?

Yeah, whatever.

[chuckles]

Are you coming in here to thank me for helping your ass with Shine?

'Cause you know you still owe me for that, right?

Oh, relax.

As soon as Shine gets back from Vegas, he's gonna sit down with you, for you to be the head of his A&R.

He's been told.

Really?

Really.

Thanks.

[over tablet]: ♪ They can try to promise me forever... ♪

What the hell is this?

What?

♪ We're better off together ♪
♪ But nobody loves me like me... ♪

_

♪ ♪

Pop, Thirsty, this is Brian Piznarski.

Piz is one of the top cyber-security experts in the city.

He's working with our in-house I.T. guys.

So, is it Piz or Piss?

It's Piz, Pop.

Okay. What's happening?

All we know so far is someone's hacked into Empire's e-mail server and pushed an MP3 file into the network's cell phones and tablets.

One of Tiana's demos.

So they must have gotten into the music servers.

Well, they tried, but the firewall's rock solid.

The song's been passed around as an e-mail attachment, but only internally.

Thirsty: W-wait. So, Empire XStream, the subscriber information, that's all secure?

Andre said that was a top priority.

No, it's life or death.

If XStream subscriber data is comprised, that means we've blown through $50 million.

Put that down.

Okay, Mr. Cyber Expert, who did this?

Well, that's gonna take some time, Pop.

We need to give him a list of possible suspects.

Thirsty: The way I see it is, there's Tariq, there's Shine, and then there's everybody else.

Yeah, I mean, Shine is a definite suspect, but this is way too complicated for his ass.

And I don't like to put nothing past the FBI, 'cause they love to play dirty.

Yeah.

But this is too messy for Tariq.

So, who else?

What about your boy Vaughn?

He and Birdman tried to buy our streaming services.

You turned him down.

[sighs]

Get Vaughn's ass in here.

On it.

Look, in the meantime, I need you to figure out what the problem is and fix it so we can get back to using our e-mails.

My head is about to burn the hell off.

Come on.

Yes, sir.

Nessa: ♪ 'Cause you like the way I move ♪
♪ And if you say that you got me, you down for me ♪
♪ I'm down for you ♪

Hakeem: ♪ I'm down for you ♪
♪ I got what you been feenin' ♪
♪ I don't want nobody else but you ♪
♪ Come show me if you mean it ♪
♪ I don't want nobody else but you ♪
♪ Don't want nobody else but you ♪
♪ I don't want nobody else but you ♪

[whoops]

♪ Don't want nobody else but you ♪
♪ I don't want nobody else but you. ♪

[music ends]

[Nessa giggles]

We're good together, me and you, Nessa.

Yeah. For sure.

You know, me and you got something you and Dre never gonna have.

We got music.

Rakon, play it from the bridge.

Here it is.

Come on.

Hey, guys.

What do you want?

I want to talk to you, brother to brother.

Nessa, will you give us a minute, please?

Yeah.

Ain't nothing to talk about.

You stole her out from under me.

Now she got to choose.

Nessa...

I had no idea you were into Nessa, Hakeem.

Neither did she.

Listen. My big brother has a few issues I don't know if he told you about.

Hakeem, listen.

Whatever this is has nothing to do with me, okay?

Now, I'm going to get Shine from the airport.

You drive safe, baby.

You better fall back, boy.

Mm.

Oh, my God.

Thirsty: Lucious.

I got Mr. Vaughn Cooper for you.

What up, L?

What's going on, fellas?

What we doing?

Have a seat, bro.

What's this look on y'all faces, man? I don't like it.

What's happening?

Lucious: You know, where you and me come from, if a man has an issue with another man, he handles that man-to-man.

We don't hide behind a computer screen like a bunch of b*tches, you know?

First of all, who are you talking to?

And where you going with this?

Andre: We know you hacked Empire's e-mail.

Hacked their e-mail?

Do I look like I be hacking e-mails?

You believe that?

I invited you and Birdman to my house as friends, to offer you an opportunity to be a part of Empire XStream.

Y'all tried to buy me out.

When I said no, maybe you felt a certain kind of way.

Maybe you wanted to hit me back or something.

I was working with Live Nation.

I saw Empire XStream was about to hit the bottom of the sea; you was about to catch a brick.

We tried to help you out.

You were working for Live Nation?

Yeah, I was working with Live Nation. I got fired.

Piz: All right, all right, all right.

Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt.

If you've gotten any e-mails, don't open them.

What are you talking about? Our e-mails are still down.

No, the servers just came back online.

Somebody's doing this remotely.

Hold on, I just got ten... 20...

I just got 50 new e-mails.

Andre: I'm-I'm getting flooded with them, too, Pop.

They're releasing every e-mail ever sent to or from Empire.

Delete them now!

No. It's got me locked out.

[phone vibrates]

Now it's a message.

Andre: They want a million dollars wired to an offshore account...

Lucious: What?

... every hour on the hour or we...

Pop, Pop, Pop!

Hey, hey! [grunts]

Listen here, Opie Cunningham!

My son said you're the best person in this business, so I hired you.

Now, you got to the end of the day to fix this or that's your ass.

You got me?

Yeah. Yeah.

Come on. Welcome to the Empire. Let's go.

Move your ass!

Get.

All right, all right. All right.

Piz: The breach occurred at 2:48 a.m.

They got access to every e-mail that was ever sent or received to an Empire company device.

Well, how do we stop them?

There's nothing to stop.

They stole the data and now it's gone.

Yeah. And apparently they can leak it out to the world little by little or all at once. Right?

Unless we pay the ransom.

I'd rather blow my damn brains out before I give some punk living in his mama's basement all my hard-earned money.

Look, keep him away from Empire XStream.

I mean, we lose that, we lose everything.

Yeah. No, yeah.

Thank you.

Every leaked e-mail that mentions you by name.

Color-coded, I might add, by level of interest.

So now you can see who's loyal and who's trying to s*ab you in the back.

Now, most of them still revere you, of course, but I think we start here.

We need to find that needle in the haystack.

Thanks.

Thanks, Dre.

2:48 a.m. I mean, that's after hours.

Angelo: From the day I was born, at Mount Sinai Hospital... y'all know, just three blocks from here...

[crowd cheers]

New York City has been my home.

[crowd cheers]

I went to school at P.S. 180, right here in Upper Manhattan.

Matter of fact, that's where I learned what matters most in life... [phone ringing] to be of service to others.

[crowd cheers]

Because I still believe in the untapped potential of this great city.

[phone chimes]

I know that together, Hello? we can make this city an even better place to raise our children.

Phone call for you.

Why? On your phone?

Would you mind stepping away and keeping your voice down?

Angelo: An issue that is very, very important to me is v*olence...

Who is this?

Lucious, I am busy.

Look, whatever it is, it can wait.

Emergency board meeting? Now?

[sighs]

[crowd cheers]

Christian.

Angelo: WOKE stands for We Organize Knowledge Empowerment.

The board has reviewed the situation, and we think we should consider paying the ransom.

Lucious: Y'all out of y'all mind.

Negotiate with t*rrorists?

Better start looking for a new CEO, then.

Co-CEO. And she hasn't weighed in.

Look, I know this is uncomfortable for you all, but Lucious and I have been up against much worse, so we're not scared of a few leaked e-mails.

What about leaked e-mails that suggest that someone is laundering corporate funds?

So, what are you getting at, lady?

Okay, wait, wait, wait. Hold up.

Lucious, we haven't given Andre an opportunity to explain.

Go ahead, baby.

Andre: Yes, ma'am.

Um, Vernon Turner, my late uncle... may he rest in peace... had a fondness for prostitutes.

When the company went public, I discovered he sometimes used company funds to entertain them.

I covered it up to protect the IPO.

Clearly, in light of this, Andre will have to step down and resign from the board.

Really? 'Cause according to those leaked e-mails, Vernon wasn't the only person around here who paid for sex.

Frequently.

You mean Papa Bernstein?

That's exactly who I mean, Pop.

And I seen some e-mails that put your freak flag on blast, too, Edna.

My father's attorney, Mr. Rawlings, has corroborating stories. Ain't that right, Thirsty?

Lucious: Yeah, but everybody ain't weighed in yet.

[phone vibrating]

Good God, what is it now?

Yes, Tiana?

Well, in view of this, do we have any other ideas on how to... deal with this leaked e-mail situation?

Tiana, I'm off you.

You nothing to me.

You wack in bed, honestly.

I mean, I'm just keeping it real. Honestly, you nothing.

Okay? Your singing is mediocre.

Matter of fact, you and Empire can kiss my black ass.

You already did that though.

Take that, homie.

[crying softly]

Y'all some dumb-asses!

He turned out to be a real busta, huh?

Becky: Mm-hmm.

He wishes he had half your fans.

Too bad I'm not on your team anymore.

This hack is exposing all of my business, and you have to do something about it.

Look, it's exposing everybody, baby.

What business of yours has it exposed?

Okay, look, girl, you need to back down...

Lobby. Right now.

We got some problems.

Return all your old cell phones on the right.

Receive your new phones on the left.

Watch your step, people. Come on through.

Come on, keep it moving, people.

I can't believe Steve Cho said that about me.

Y'all see this?

Look at this.

Everybody's e-mails.

Oh, Dad, we were just coming to get you.

Guess who's here.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, what's up, T? You see your boyfriend's Snaps?

Or should I say ex-boyfriend?

Read between the lines.

Mwah.

I should've known your ass would be showing up.

Take cyberterrorism seriously.

Even when the victim is a dangerous miscreant.

We're here to investigate.

Investigate what?

How y'all leaked my e-mails?

Tariq: Feds don't leak information, big brother; we gather it and use it to lock all you criminals away.

[crowd gasps, murmurs]

What?

What is that?

[distorted voice murmuring]

What the hell is it now?

[crowd gasps, groans]

Ooh!

Oh...

[gasps]

[crowd murmuring, chuckling]

Ma?

[yells]

[crowd gasps, screams]

Woman: Oh, okay.

Now, what the hell y'all looking at?!

They perky.

Move!

I just got a call from Angelo's campaign manager asking if you leaked that picture of me to mess with his announcement.

I don't give a damn what you and Ray-J do in the privacy of your home.

But since you're on the subject, don't you think you're a little too old to be sending naked pictures of yourself?

Are you jealous, Lucious, because you got to lift your fat-ass stomach up to find your...

[sighs]

What is she doing here?

I was just here for my meeting with Shine when all of this started blowing up.

Shine: She told me you think I'm the one that hacked you.

I didn't do it, Lucious.

It's not my style. At all.

Cookie: Why is she meeting with Shine?

She's interviewing to be his A&R.

[laughs]

[scoffs softly]

What, you want the job, Cookie?

Child, please.

[scoffs]

I guess it's true what they say.

The camera does add ten pounds.

Cookie: Well, then what is your excuse, fat-ass?

That's ambition.

Oh. Be ambitious enough to put the phone down, bitch.

[chuckling]

[clears throat]

Look, Lucious, for what it's worth, I believe Shine, all right?

All he's ever wanted is a legit sh*t in the industry; now he's got a stake in Empire with Nessa.

Doesn't make any sense.

She's right.

I may stomp a hole through somebody, but I ain't no Internet thug.

[phone vibrating]

Plus, I have no desire to see Cookie's cookies. [chuckles]

What is it?

It's the hackers.

They say, "Get ready.

"We have so much more."

Yo, every major music blog is trashing the Tiana single that leaked, man.

You talking about the song that you pressed for instead of "Starlight"?

That's on you.

All right, listen, okay?

Will you tell me what to do?

Boy, bye. I'm not even on her team anymore, thanks to you.

And even if I was, all I'd have to do is...

Never mind.

No, no, no, don't "never mind."

Listen to me. Hey, I'll get you back on the team.

Yeah, I will. I'll make sure that you get credit.

All you have to do is you just got to help me.

All right.

Okay.

Angie Martinez has been sweating me for an exclusive.

I could tell her that that song was an unfinished demo and offer up the world premiere of "Starlight" as the lead single for her next album.

It's that easy.

That's good.

That's good. All right, would you do that for me?

On one condition.

Hmm?

When I tell Cookie and Tiana that it was my idea, Mm-hmm. you need to back me up.

Of course. Done and done.

I got you. Okay.

"Leviticus 20:13 tells me to k*ll your gay ass on sight, Jamal Lyon. Hope you burn in hell."

You never knew about these?

It seems Empire got a grip of them when I came out.

My mom didn't want my dad to show it to me, but, you know, Internet is forever, so...

[sighs]

You okay?

Yeah, I'm fine.

I'm not gonna fall off the wagon, if that's what you're thinking.

Interesting, you know, 'cause... what's so interesting about this hack is that it feels real personal, you know?

These are things that they're putting out there about me and my mom, my dad, my brothers, my dead uncles.

It's like, pick off a Lyon one at a time.

Hmm.

Fellas.

Hey.

Ready to get started?

Yeah.

[clears throat]

I'm out.

Jamal. See you later.

Yeah.

[door opens, closes]

Now that he's out the way.

Should listen to what I did.

All right.

Jamal: ♪ Calling you the Carrie ♪
♪ And I'm your Mr. Big ♪
♪ A fairy tale hidden under some other nonsense ♪
♪ But like we say, we're in a place ♪
♪ Where we don't have to follow the rules ♪

[electronic squeaking]

♪ Way down here in Jamaica, you like me... ♪

Wait, wait... what's...?

Derek, what are you doing? What the hell are you doing?

I'm not doing anything.

[music distorting]

What is happening? Tracks are being erased.

No. Uh-uh. No.

What the hell?

Wait, wait. Wait, wait.

Move. Wait. Hold on. Stop. Wait.

[distorted music playing]

[tapping keyboard]

[music stops]

What is this?!

Okay, none of the sequences are updating.

Let's see if we can go back to the main... see if I can get to a C prompt and maybe we can start over from there.

[electronic chirp]

No, no. Come on.

Okay, what just happened?

This isn't just an e-mail hack anymore. They're in the system.

You got to be kidding me.

They're in my system?

They got access to everything, Lucious.

All of Empire's assets.

Payroll records, masters, anything of proprietary value.

Wait. XStream's subscribers database?

That's a question for Poindexter.

I... I don't know.

That's not the answer we want. Come on, Nintendo.

Get to typing. Let's go. Fix it.

Let's go.

We'll just reboot.

[doorbell rings]

[doorbell rings]

[takes deep breath]

Hey. Ooh.

You look good.

Thanks.

I heard you stopped by the office. What's up?

Um, your campaign manager wouldn't let me see you, because he said... the picture that got leaked ruined your campaign announcement, so...

For real?

Yeah. [chuckles]

Huh.

I just fired his ass.

Angelo, you can't just do...

Yes, I can.

And I just did.

And anybody else that disrespects you is gonna find their ass on the unemployment line as well.

[chuckles softly]

I can't let you do this.

Come on, now, this'll blow over Look, when I first met you, I thought you were some bougie, stuck-up guy doing your little community service because you didn't have to work.

Mm-hmm.

But I believe in you, Angelo, and I... think you can do some amazing things for this city.

Well, thank you for believing, Cookie.

But... if you stay with me, you're gonna lose, because... there's some things about my past, or about me, period, that your opponent can use, and will use.

Trust me, you don't know the half.

Look, look...

I can handle... whatever anybody they got...

I can't, though.

I can't. I wouldn't be able to handle if you lost this election because of me.

[sighs]

I'm so glad we didn't go to the next level.

What do you mean?

I think you should go.

Whoa. Wait, Cookie.

Please.

I don't want to cry in front of you.

[sighs] Okay.

[sighs]

That's it, man. I tried everything.

All the tracks are gone, and we're locked out.

[sighs]

This happened for a reason, all right?

I wasn't even feeling the tracks.

So we just... you know, we just got to trust that, you know?

You need to get back on your pills, man, 'cause you losing your mind.

Hey. Hey.

Your hands are shaking, man.

Well, um... we're gonna start from scratch.

All right, go analog.

Scare up some old-school stuff or something.

I don't know. Figure it out, D.

All right?

Come on, Pop. You want me to fire all these people?

Each and every one of them.

For disrespecting you in their private e-mails?

Loyalty is everything to me, son.

I want a clean house.

Andre, on your orders, the security team did a high-level search of the entire building.

They found this in studio six.

What is it?

It's a keylogger.

Andre: Tiana, we need to talk.

How do y'all expect us to work like this?

How long have you been working in here?

A couple of weeks. Why?

Has anybody else been in here with you?

Just me and the engineers and my team, my girls, Gram.

That jerk was supposed to be on my album until last week.

Gram wasn't on the list, Pop.

Wait. Y'all think Gram hacked Empire?

Do you think he has the capability to pull something like this off?

Well... he broke into my phone once.

He didn't even have the passcode or anything.

He said passcodes are for amateurs.

And he does all his own recording.

And he hates on all the labels, especially Empire.

And he called you, like, a dinosaur of a Philistine era, or something like that.

[laughing]

Bitch, you think that's funny?

He was furious when you sent him to challenge Hakeem, and he didn't get to battle.

He said he was gonna humiliate all of y'all.

Wait. He said he was gonna do what?

Humiliate you.

[horns honking]

Well, what's this?

How the hell y'all get in my house, man?

Lucious: I suppose the same way you got into our servers.

What you talking about?

You hacked Empire.

Wait. I did what?

I know what this is. I'm getting punk'd.

Ashton. Where Ashton Kutcher at?

[laughs]

Y'all are serious.

I see what this is.

Since y'all look like a bunch of exposed clowns, now you're trying to save the day by blaming me.

You know what, son?

When we first got here, I thought this was one of them big old Jamaican Cheech and Chong joints.

[laughter]

[inhales]

And then I realized you a whole different class of brother.

I wouldn't have thought you were smart enough to pull something like this off, but I'll admit it.

I was wrong about you.

You're right. I could have pulled it off... if I wanted to.

We found everything on your computer... brother.

[Lucious laughs]

And you used this... to get our passcodes, but you got sloppy.

We found it in a studio where you were recording with Tiana.

Okay, big shoulders, you are way up here, okay?

I'm gonna need you to bring it down a notch.

[Lucious and Andre laughing]

Look, I could easily take y'all down, but I'm not sloppy.

And I damn sure wouldn't have left that behind.

I mean, not to brag or boast. I wouldn't even need it.

But let me ask you a question.

Why the hell would I go through the trouble of hacking you?

What did he call me, son?

He said I was a dinosaur from the Philistine era, going around dropping these gargantuan turds all over the Earth in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

That's what I heard, Pop.

Okay. You know, since y'all so convinced... what are you gonna do?

Call the cops?

That's what white folks do.

We got something better in mind.

[door closes]

Shine: Hey, where you going?

The party just started.

$80,000 chair, bro. [grunts]

Oops. I hope they don't hurt him.

[laughter]

Nice work, son.

Yes, sir.

Shine, my man.

Lucious.

I'll bring you a souvenir.

Oh, please do.

Lucious: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

♪ ♪

[cheering]

To the Empire!

[cheering, shouting]

Now, although we faced a hell of a crisis today, we not only survived as a result of you and your loyalty, we thrived!

[cheering]

Now, before we get to celebratin', I would like Mr. Leonard Bernstein, our chairman of the board, to come and make a few announcements.

He's a white cat, but he's an all right cat.

[applause, cheering]

Thank you, Lucious.

It takes true leadership to turn a debitating crisis into an opportunity for growth.

But that's exactly what Andre Lyon did.

And that's why the board has named him president of Empire XStream.

[cheering]

Congratulations, Andre.

[cheering]

Man: Andre!

Lucious: Thank you, Leonard.

Now I'd like to invite to the stage my co-CEO.

She is the mother of my children, the most beautiful and talented...

[electronic feedback]

Thank you.

[applause, cheering]

Cookie Lyon!

As you all know, we were all victims of this hack, but, uh, one of our artists came under att*ck the most, and that artist is Tiana.

Man: We love you, Tiana!

But lucky for her, our new head of A&R, Xavier Rosen, stayed two steps ahead of the game and shut it down.

[cheering]

That's right.

Thanks to Xavier...

Stop clapping.

Tiana's new single, "Starlight," is a hit, and already streaming to huge numbers.

So let's give the baddest white boy in the game some love.

[cheering]

Lucious: And now without further ado, I want to welcome to the stage, as a special treat for you loyal employees, it is a duet by two of Empire's greatest artists, Nessa and Hakeem Lyon!

[cheering]

Girl, you look like you're about to give somebody the business.

No.

Relax. Relax.

Xavier took credit for my idea and a song that I produced.

He promised Cookie that he was gonna...

Becky, Becky... come on. Not here.

That's not how you handle the situation, Becky.

What, I'm supposed to let him get away with that?

Who says he's getting away with it?

The one thing I know how to do is handle a scumbag.

And it's not by going at him from the front.

Okay? Rock with me.

I'll teach you a little something about true payback.

Okay? Come on, trust me.

Play along, play along.

Stop... stop clapping.

[siren wailing in distance]

[low panting]

[sniffles softly]

[trembling exhale]

[exhales]

[pill container rattles]

[sighs]

[recording]: This is Philip. Please leave a me... [beeps]

[takes deep breath]

[recording]: Hey. It's D-Major. Leave it. [beeps]

Yo, Derek. Um...

You know, I'm not doing so well. I...

I think you were right...

I'm just gonna take one of these pills, 'cause it's not...

Anyway, just call me when you can, all right?

J-just come over.

Please.

[beeps]

[glass shatters]

[crowd cheering]

♪ Hey, hey, hey, boy ♪
♪ What's good, baby? ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Yeah, you ready? ♪
♪ Ah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Let me get in this race, we out. ♪

[whooping] ♪ Come on ♪
♪ Girl, you know I'm all about ya ♪
♪ You need anything, I got ya ♪
♪ Just don't wanna be without ya ♪
♪ That's one thing I like about ya ♪
♪ I want you to be my ryda ♪
♪ I know you been thinkin' 'bout it ♪
♪ Girl, I'm gonna make you mine ♪
♪ Guess there's just no way around it ♪
♪ Yeah, you're, you're, you're ♪
♪ You're the type I think I could spend my life with ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ I'm sure it's way more ♪
♪ More than something that just lasts for a night ♪ - ♪ Oh, boy ♪
♪ And I'll cut them chicks off real quick ♪ - ♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ They ain't who I'm trying to deal with ♪ - ♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ You the one I wanna chill with ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ You got something I could build with ♪
♪ You say you want it ♪
♪ So show me ♪
♪ You do ♪
♪ I do ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Tell me ♪
♪ If it's really true ♪
♪ Yeah, I don't want nobody else but you ♪
♪ You tell me you about it then can you show me if it's true ♪
♪ It's true ♪
♪ I see you talking about all these things ♪
♪ You say you wanna do ♪

Whoo!

♪ You wanna make me your ryda ♪
♪ Because you like the way I move ♪
♪ You say that you got me, you're down for me, ♪
♪ I'm down for you ♪
♪ I'm down for you ♪
♪ You tell me you about it ♪
♪ Then can you show me if it's true ♪
♪ I see you talking about all these things ♪
♪ You say you wanna do♪
♪ Let's do it ♪
♪ You wanna make me your ryda 'cause you like the way I move ♪
♪ Well, if you say that you got me, you're down for me ♪
♪ I'm down for you ♪
♪ I'm down for you ♪
♪ I got what you been feenin' ♪
♪ I don't want nobody else but you ♪

Nessa: ♪ Come show me if you mean it ♪

Hakeem: ♪ I don't want nobody else but you. ♪
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

That's hot.

[laughing]: Dang, I've been racking my brains about what the concept of this album will be, and I swear, it hit me... like-like... like a bolt of lightning. You understand?

You understand?

Mm-hmm.

Like a bolt of lightning. It's... it's about my family.

The secrets, the dirty little secrets, the dirty little secrets. [laughs]

I'm not just talking about the-the-the bad ones.

Know what I'm saying? Because everybody expects to hear that.

You know what I'm saying? I'm talking about the good ones, too.

These beautiful, beautiful secrets that we hide, and if they... if they keep hidden...

[laughs] they're just gonna curl up and they're gonna die inside.

But nah. I'm gonna put it all in the music.

I'm gonna set us all free. All of us.

And that's the light. That's the light.

That's the new direction?

That's the new direction.

[chuckles]

Yeah.

You feelin' it?

Yeah, I'm diggin' it.

Yeah? Really?

And I'm feeling it.

Yeah.

I'm feeling you.

Yeah?

Mm-hmm.

Hughes: Whoever hacked them gave us a hell of a Christmas present.

But, damn, I'm a little cross-eyed over here.

Tariq: I hear you.

Let's call it a night.

I got to give it to him.

Half his employees hate his guts, the other half think he's a god, and half his artists are completely insane, but Lucious Lyon runs a pretty tight ship.

So did Stalin, my man.

Wait. This is interesting.

What is it?

This is dated two days after the day Frank Gathers was found m*rder*d in prison.

"For MM: $53,800. For BK: $94,452."

Seems MM and BK must have done something for Lucious and got paid.

Question is, who is MM and BK, and what exactly did they do? [chuckles]

Hey.

You hungry?

I'm starving.

[chuckles]

Jamal?

Hey, what's wrong?

Hey, stop playing, man.

Hey.

Hey, Jamal, wake up!

Hey!

Wake up!

Hey, Jamal, wake up.

Stop playing. That's not funny.

[panting]

[beeps]

[recording]: This is Philip. Please leave a message.

I need you to get over here right now.

I think Jamal O.D.'d.

[phone beeps off]

Oh, come on, baby.

No, no, no, no, you're not going out like this.

Come on. Come on, baby.

Come on, baby.

Hey!

Did you call an ambulance?

Man, I didn't want it to get on the blogs.

He's breathing.

Why couldn't I get a pulse?

'Cause it's faint. But it's there.

He didn't overdose; he blacked out.

What you doing with him?

Are you insane? What is this!

[Jamal panting]

TV newsman: Sir, is it true you're romantically involved with Cookie Lyon?

Angelo: Uh, I'm not answering questions.

Are you denying Cookie Lyon sent you that photograph?

That's none of your damn business.

That's none of your business.

You tell 'em, Angelo!

Newswoman: Cookie's cookies are being leaked all over the world.

Why is it that you're entitled to a right to privacy when Ms. Lyon isn't?

Yeah, why is that Mr. Mayor?

First off, everyone is entitled to the right to privacy.

All right, y'all want to know the deal?

I'm gonna tell you the deal. [clears throat]

Yes...

I was trying to date Ms. Lyon.

Uh, she kept me at arm's length, and just as I was about to get somewhere with her, you guys messed that up.

To be honest, she just broke up with me today.

So are we good now?

Now, can we start dealing with the real issues that New York City's people have to deal with?

You don't think the invasion of a woman's privacy is important?

Newsman: Are you gonna answer?

You know what, you're right.

Um... this is but one of many examples of women being disrespected in today's society.

You all know that women's equality is... high up on my priority list, so...

I'm gonna put myself out there, in solidarity, alongside Ms. Lyon and women everywhere.

Is this enough for y'all?

Or do you need me to take off my pants, too?

[laughs]: Yes! Yes! You go!

Take it all off!

I love you, Angelo.

[liquid dripping]

Nessa: What is this place, Dre?

[Andre chuckles softly]

Andre: Chateau Andre.

Come on.

Come here.

You wait here.

Don't make a sound.

Dre...

I'm gonna show you how much I trust you.

Well, well, well, look who's here.

Vaughn, my man.

[chuckles]

Everything went more or less exactly as planned, except for that part where you leaked a nude selfie of my mama.

Vaughn: Man, I apologize about that.

I thought it added a little layer of plausible deniability, you know?

Yeah.

Nothing personal.

Didn't jeopardize the company, brother.

If anything, it got us more notice, so...

I'll let it pass.

But in the future, everything goes through me, right?

I heard you were president now.

Big man on campus.

Oh, yeah.

Soon as the service is worth billions, I'll cut it loose, you get your next installment.

Vaughn: Mind if I double-check? All right? Nothing personal, right?

Can't trust nobody nowadays.

Well, you can always trust a Lyon, baby.

This is why I am here.

Now, you stay black, my brother.

[chuckles]

Stay strong.

[chuckles]

I created a void that only I could fill.

I knew my father would put me in a position of power.

So, what do you plan to do with your power?

[sighs]

No matter how much I try and play by the rules... the world's always gonna see me as a well-dressed thug.

The son of a gangster.

So if that's the way the world sees me...

Rhonda always said the only thing that was... standing in the way of me taking over Empire was I'm the son that's not musical.

But you... you, you're... you're the embodiment of music, Nessa.

I think that Rhonda would approve.

Of you becoming a gangster?

Of us... combining our strengths, and becoming powerful together.

Powerful.

[whispers]: Yeah.

All-powerful.