Observation One Notes

Empire
Cayla Moore
October 3, 2015
Relevant Background Info.
Lucious and Cookie were together when they were young, around a certain age in their 20s, and
ran a drug dealing business together as well as making music. Cookie always helped Lucious
make his music and was a huge factor for why his music became so successful. She always told
him what was needed and what was not needed. After Cookie took the fall and got arrested for a
drug deal, Lucious took the money that Cookie got for him, which was $400,000, and started to
make the company Empire. Over the course of 17 years, Empire has become successful and
Cookie and Lucious sons all have developed their own talents. With Lucious rising to fame
rapidly, the company becomes one of the most famous and most talked about business that he
wants to make sure lives on forever, even if he doesnt.

Vocabulary Terms
Figured World: A large area that involves all of the actors and allows them to interact with each
other whenever and however they can. It is set up with certain rules for everyone to follow, so
that the figured world does not go out of control.
Empire Entertainment
Lucious home
Jamals home
Rules and Conventions
In the music industry, everyone is looking for their next hit and want to be on top, ruling the
industry, but in order to do that, you have to be willing to do any and everything to get there. The
music industry is a sink or swim industry, whether you sink on your own or someone pushes
your head under water until you can no longer breathe and everyone has forgotten you even
existed. To be successful in this business, especially in Empire, there are certain rules that people
must follow or life for a person on Empire may become a living hell.
Do not cross Lucious when it comes to his family and his business. He will do
ANYTHING to protect both of them.
Do not let anyone try to identify who you are. Be who you are and do not worry about
who does not accept you.
Do not show any signs of weakness to anyone. For example, Lucious has ALS and
sometimes his symptoms appear to be very strong and he cannot control them, but he just
plays off the symptoms like its a cramp or he is just tired. He does not want anyone
feeling sorry for him or thinking he is about to die because that will show that he is
vulnerable. You have to stay strong and know how to hold your own.
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Commented [MC1]: Cayla-Good work on the second draft of assignment

one. Your notes were very thorough and easy to
follow.
Give us a bit more context about the person that
you chose to interview for this project. In a short
summary at the beginning of the interview (3-4
sentences max) tell us who you interviewed, why
you chose this person, and how this interview
impacted your observations.
Definitely add some photos of the significant
characters/action throughout the show. While I
was reading your observations, I kept picturing
some of these scenes, so having a visual
reference would be really useful. You may
consider using the slideshow feature in Wix to
add a running selection of relevant photos; this
will add both to your assignment one and the
overall course portfolio.
I would recommend you adding the episode title
to each one of the individual observations
Revise your definition of "actor"; thought this is
a show, we all play specific roles within the
communities we belong; see me if you want to
talk through this a bit more
--Ashlyn Walden.

If you need to talk, go talk to family because no matter what is going on, they are always
willing to talk.
You will need help at some point. Accept help from those you can trust and keep them
close.
Do whatever it takes to stay on top of everything. Make sure you have a huge network, or
contacts, that you can refer to whenever you need them so you can get things done.

Artifacts: Certain items, emotions, or ideas that are symbolically valuable in the figured world.
Lucious ALS: it symbolizes the death that lingers around Lucious. It prevents him from
doing certain things and it is one of his weaknesses
Empire Entertainment: Lucious was raised and lived in the streets. For him to go from
there to owning a huge and very popular company shows how hard he has worked and is
his legacy that he will leave behind.
Cookies instinct: Cookie always listens to her gut and reacts accordingly. Lucious
music became a huge success because he listened to everything Cookie had to say about
his music when they were poor and before she went to jail. If she says something is great
then it is amazing, but if she knows it needs more work, she will work hard to make sure
that a song is perfect if she knows it can be better.
Actors: People who play a certain character and are expected to act a certain way in order to get
their job as that character done.
Lucious: plays the role of the most dominant and powerful man in the Empire. He signs
and drops artists and will kill anyone, including super close family friends, who get in the
way of him.
Cookie: ex wife of Lucious Lyons and mother of Jamal, Hakeem, and Andre. She went to
prison for 17 years because she took the fall for the $400,000 in drug money that her and
Lucious had collected together. Since she got out of jail early for good behavior, she
expects Lucios to give her half of the company that she helped pay to start.
Jamal: the gay second born son who grew up just wanting to be accepted by his dad and
always tried to prove himself worthy by impressing him with his music.
Andre: The first born son who even though is not musically talented like the rest of the
family, has put his life into learning everything about the business in hopes that he can
control it one day. He has a bipolar disorder that could ruin his chances of that though.
Hakeem: The baby of the family who is also musically talented because he is a rapper.
He looks up to Lucious and in return Lucious spoils him with anything he wants, but
Hakeem is not mature or responsible enough to handle any real business.
Rhonda: Andres wife who manipulates him to do anything she wants him to do with
sex. She pushes Andre to do what he can in order to get the Empire.

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Bunkie: The cousin of Cookie and a long time friend of Lucious. He always protected
them when things got rough back when they all lived in the projects. While Cookie went
away, he helped raise the kids and has become like a second father, but he has always had
a gambling problem, which gets him in a lot of trouble.
Vernon: The right hand man to Lucious who helps him make business decisions and
helps to keep Lucious out of trouble in any way. He is like an uncle to the Andre, Jamal,
and Hakeem and will also fight to protect Empire at any means necessary.

Literacy Practices: The different ways that the actors in the figured world communicate with
each other
Phone calls: When there is something urgent that needs to be taken care of, the actors
usually call each other.
Texting: Texting is usually used when someone is trying to be sneaky so that no one can
hear anything being said. Texts also usually occur from an untraceable number.
Talking: Lucious is constantly having press interviews, trying to sign someone, and
giving feedback to his artists in the recording studio. He has to talk to people in order to
keep Empire going. The family also has family discussions often.
Communities of Practice: A group of people who, over a period of time, go about gaining more
knowledge or go after a certain goal. It holds the interest of everyone and they begin to form a
bond with one another, whether the bond is good or bad.
The brothers: Andre, Jamal and Hakeem- they all want to gain control of Empire
Anika, Lucious, and Cookie- Even though everyone may not get along, they are all trying
to do the best they can for Empire, so that it can become bigger and better. They can
accomplish that by discovering and signing new artists who are great at what they do.
Bunkie, Cookie, Lucious- they all worked together back in the day to run a drug business
and stay out of trouble in order to have money to pay for things like the house, food,
clothes, and things they needed to start up Lucious first album.
Domain: The certain thing that brings everyone in the community together in the first place.
Empire: the brothers are working hard so that they can prove themselves worthy to their
dad that one of them deserve to run the company
The approval of Lucious: Cookie wants Lucious to stand by her when she has an idea or
has something to say. Jamal, Andre, and Hakeem want to impress their dad with what
they can do so that they can get his approval and be able to run Empire.
Music: Jamal, Lucios, and Cookie all truly love music and know what to listen for in
order for the music that they make to be amazing and have a certain sound to it.
Practices of the Community: This is how the people involved in the community of practice
relate. They all come together and share things with each other, such as different experiences or
something that they learned while not with the group, so that they can get a better understanding
of the domain.

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Lucious organized a family dinner and told his sons to invite their dates and he invited
Cookie as well. Jamal performed a song that was amazing and everyone could give him
their feedback and Jamal played an old song that Lucious tried to get right from back in
the day, but he could not do it. Jamal turned it into a very amazing song.
Lucious sat with Hakeem in the club and talked to him about him needed to work and
take more responsibility for the things he does, so that he knows how to work and take
care of himself.

Interview with Debinee Dawson

1. Tell me what stood out about this show that made you want to continue watching it.
o I wanted to see how they were going to take and run Lucious company.
2. Who do you think Lucious will choose to run the Empire and why.
o Hakeem because he is very talented and even though he is really irresponsible, he is Lucious
favorite and gives him anything he wants.
3. Who do you think should run Empire and why.
o I think Jamal is the best choice because he is the only one with the drive to run the business
right.
4. After being in jail for 17 years, Cookie still wants to manage artists. Give examples on what
she has done that makes her qualified to be a manager.
o Before Cookie went to jail, she helped manage artists and helped start the business.
5. Tell me why you think Lucious killed Bunkie.
o His ego got the best of him; in addition to feeling betrayed.
Episode 1- Observation Notes
1:00- While working with a music artist in the studio, Lucious flashes back to when he was in
the hospital having tests done on him.
5:38- Lucious speaks at a press conference saying he first started selling drugs at the age of 9
years old in Philadelphia in order to feed himself, but the music he heard in his head kept him
alive, keeping him from thinking he would get shot. The melodies he thought of kept him warm
when he slept in the streets. He flashes back to wrapping on the sidewalk in front of other kids.
He goes back to his speech saying that music saved his life. Now the internet what music artists
work so hard to create because music can be downloaded for free. This prevents artists from
having money to give back to poor kids in the projects trying to make it out as well. Lucious then
announces that Empire Entertainment has filed to become a publically traded company in the
New York stock exchange.
7:03- The sons of Lucious, Andre, Jamal, and Hakeem, meet up at Luciouss house because
Lucious feels that none of them are ready to take over the company when he is gone, but soon he
will choose one of them and begin grooming that person into becoming head of the company.
The brothers are in competition for the top spot.
o 8:00- In order for it (Empire Entertainment) to survive, I need one of you negros to man up
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and lead it and nothing or no one is going to tear it down

8:08- Luciouss ex-wife, Cookie is being released from jail. No one came to pick her up
because no one knew she would be getting out of jail early, so she just starts walking.
9:00- Lucious tells his long-time friend, Bunkie, that he needs to keep tabs on Cookie and know
her every move because he does not want Cookie to do anything that he does not know about.
10:53- Jamal, the middle son, explains to his boyfriend that he feels his dad will never let him
run Empire since he is gay. Jamal does not want the company anyways. Cookie then shows up at
his house.
11:48- A flashback to when Cookie was in jail comes on. Lucious did not want to see her in
there, so he sent Jamal in to talk to her. Ever since Jamal was a little boy, Cookie new that he
was gay and she reminded him that no matter what she had his back.
14:15- Cookie arrives at the Empire office for the first time, seeing how successful the
company and now she was half of the company since she was the original investor of the
company 17 years ago with $400,000.
16:30- Since Lucious will not give Cookie half of the company, she asks for a $5 million salary
and to be head of A & R. Lucious tells her that the board will never approved of that much
money, but maybe he could try to get it close to $3 million, and she could not be head of A & r
because his new lover, Anika, has that position.
17:53- Cookie goes to visit her son Hakeem for the first time since her release. Since he was a
baby when Cookie got arrested, he does not really know her. She explains how everything that
she did for him and his brothers. He gets really disrespectful and responds by saying What, you
want a metal bitch? and she goes off on him, hitting him repeatedly with a broom and yelling.
19:03- Hakeem meets up with Lucious at their new club and explains to him that his mother is
not a bad person, but they just got caught up in a bad situation. They then go into discussing
business. Lucious tells Hakeem that he has so much talent, but hes wasting it on the wrong
things, but he is going to give him a song to record.
20:45- While Cookie is trying to catch a cab, she spots Bunkie, her cousin who works for
Lucious, out in a car spying on her. He confides on her saying that Lucious is treating him more
like a butler rather than a family member and he practically raised the kids while she was in jail.
Cookie thanks him and they agree that Bunkie wont tell Lucious that he saw her. He warns
Cookie before she leaves that something is wrong with Lucious, so she should be careful.
22:30- Lucious calls Jamal to the office to talk to him again about the fact that his sexuality is
not really accepted by people all over the country, more importantly by the people who buy the
music sold by Empire. Jamal tells his dad to just take the time to get to know him and stop
always making life about business.
23:20- There is a flashback to when Lucious and Cookine were together at home with their
friends and family and they were discussing how they could make his music better. Jaamal, a
young boy at the time, walks downstairs in his mothers heels and head scarf on. Friends and
family in the room look at him with disappointment and just shake their heads. Lucious, filled
with rage, charges at him and picks him up saying are you outta your damn mind!? Coming in
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here dressed like a little bitch! and carries him out the room.
24:57- Andres wife gives him pills to take. He tells his wife that he knows his dad loves his
other two brothers more than him and he knows he will leave everything to Hakeem. His wife
comes up with a plan saying if Jamal actually fights for ownership of the company for some
reason, him and his brother might tear each other down, leaving Andre as the last one standing to
receive the company.
26:14- Andre visits Cookie and apologizes for not ever visiting or writing her while she was in
jail. He talks to her about managing Jamal. He lets her know that he wants to own the company
some day and he just needs her to manage Jamal and make him a star.
28:00- Cookie goes to Lucious the next day and tells him that the deal they made earlier was
not enough. In addition to everything she wants, she also wants to own Jamal. Lucious says no at
first, but she blackmails him saying that she will go to the SCC saying that she was the company
was started with $400,000 in drug money. She knows the company would go under if anyone
found out, so Lucious just gives her Jamal and says he never wanted him anyways and she
responds saying I know.
30:15- Cookie goes to see Jamal perform at a small nightclub and she realizes that he is
amazingly talented. There is then a flashback to when Jamal comes downstairs with his mothers
shoes and head scarf on. Lucious carries him out to the backyard and stuffs him in a trash can
saying He aint right! and Cookie immediately gets him out and carries him back inside while
screaming and kicking at Lucious. The flashback disappears and Cookie and Jamal are talking.
Cookie feels that Jamal should be in sold out arenas performing, but Jamal says thats not
something he wants to do because the business isde of music takes the purity out of music and
thats what he is all about.
33:00- Jamal and Hakeem meet up at the club saying if Lucious manages Hakkem and Cookie
manages Jamal, then they will be going head to head.
35:20- Hakeem is recording the song his dad gave him, but he sounds terrible because he has a
hangover and because he thinks the song is whack, so he goes to Jamal for help.
36:46- Bunkie comes to Luciouss house really late at night and he complains about how
Lucious forgot about him and does not treat him like family. Lucious would not give Bunkie
$25,000 to borrow to pay some debt, so he is upset. Lucious knows he would do something
stupid with the money and just lose it. Bunkie demands to be given $3 million, but Lucious says
no. Bunkie then pulls a gun on Lucious and says he wants whats his.
38:50- Hakeem records and amazing song for his dad and says that Jamal helped him, but
Lucious does not give him and credit, so Jamal goes to Cookie and agrees to let her manage him
and that he is also going to come out.
39:25- At the doctors office, Lucious is told that they have confirmed that he has ALS, which
has no cure and he has 3 years to live.
41:00- Cookie signs a contract that states her salary and she can have Jamal, but she cannot
mention to anybody how the company was originally started.

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 42:00- Lucious meets up with Bunkie in a dark place. Bunkie asks for his money and in return,
Lucious shoots him in the face and Bunkies body falls in the river near by.
Episode 2- Observation Notes
1:00 min- Lucios is all over the news and they are discussing how his company is going
public. One news anchor says that Lucious is trying to make himself immortal and he
flashes back to when he was first told he had ALS.
3:00 mins- Cookie arrives at Lucious huge house for the first time trying to get him to
agree to let Jamal perform at the opening of Lucious new club. Lucious feels that if
Jamal performs, then his club will be branded as a gay club.
6:00 mins- Hakeem meets the new artist, Teyanna, who was just signed to Empire. He is
instantly attracted to her at first sight.
8:00 mins- Lucious still has his assistant calling people to try and find Bunkie. He is
leading them on, so that they think he is still alive. He then has to begin dealing with the
fact that one of his artists, Kid Fo Fo, was apparently the biggest inspiration to a kid was
shooting people in a mall and killed two people.
10:00 min- Andre is talking in a recorder about what he needs to handle at Empire and
what he needs to do in order for him to get Empire. Rhonda then appears and asks him if
he went to the doctor. He admits that he cancelled the last three appointments with him
because the doctor gives him medicine that throws him off his game at work and he
cannot afford to mess up. Rhonda reminds him that since he is bipolar that he cannot just
miss appointments because its life threatening and gets him to agree to go to his next
meeting by giving him oral sex.
12:00 mins- Becky, Lucious assistant, is using Lucious bathroom and finds his
medicine for to keep his ALS symptoms controlled. She is the first person to know that
he has ALS.
14:00 mins- Lucious lets Kidd Fo Fo know that he is getting a lot of pressure to drop him
from his label, and he will keep him on his label and protect Kid Fo Fo if he performs
alongside Hakeem at the opening of Leviticus. Cookie barges in the office telling Kid Fo
Fo that his music sucks and that Lucious should instead let Jamal and Hakeem perform
together because the press would love to see two brothers perform on stage together, but
he says no and walks away.
15:00 mins- Vernon is called by a detective to identify a body and it turns out to be
Bunkie. He told Lucious he was found floating in the Hudson at 2:30 am. Lucious wants
the entire family to gather at the house so that they can all be in grief together.
16:00 mins- Cookie tells Jamal that he will come out as being gay the same day that
Hakeem has to perform, so that Hakeem does not have all the attention. Cookie wants
Jamal to get noticed somehow and really soon.

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18:00 mins- Lucious calls Cookie and tells her that Bunkie is dead. The scene then cuts to
everybody at Luciouss house crying over the death of Bunkie. Lucious says that he will
get whoever killed Bunkie.
21:00 mins- Andre tells Lucious that one of the banks that is helping Empire to become
public is dropping out of the deal with them because they do not want to be involved with
anything having to do with the Kid Fo Fo incident. Lucious tells Andre that is he gets the
bank back then Empire is his. Andre then tells Lucious about the press conference that
Jamal is having on the steps of Leviticus the day its grand opening.
23:00 mins- Cookie gets the best publicist in the city to make sure that the press show up
to Jamal coming out the day Leviticus opens. Hakeem is in a very high scale restaurant
with his friends and he is junk. One of his friends is recording and asks him to say
something to Teyanna. He pulls out his penis and he pees on the floor. He then gets angry
and begins shouting at people, mainly white people, who are staring at him in disgust. He
then calls Obama a sellout. The video goes viral the next day and Lucious is really mad at
Hakeem. Anika explains to him that even though the video was really bad, more people
want to see Hakeem perform at Leviticus.
28:00 mins- Lucious tries to get Jamal to not come out to the world about him being gay.
Jamal tries to stand up for himself saying that he is who he is and the world does not
revolve around him. Lucious says if he comes out then he will cut him off financially.
29:00 mins- Cookie is calling Jamal because he is nowhere to be found even though his
press conference is starting soon. Jamal is at home watching his father on tv. Lucious, on
tv trying to defend his son and Kid Fo Fo, says that music artists should be able to
express themselves however they want to, which really upsets Jamal because that is not
what Lucious wants Jamal to do.
34:00 mins- Lucious, Anika, Vernon, Becky and Kid Fo Fo are all on the elevator and
Cookie gets on. Kid Fo Fo is being rude to Cookie and Lucious doesnt say anything.
Cookie is hurt and asks him why he treats her so poorly and gets off the elevator. Lucious
immediately fires Kid Fo Fo saying that Cookie was right about his raps being whack.
36:00 mins- Cookie sees Jamal for the first time since he stood her up at the press
conference. Jamal says that he just didnt want to do it. Cookie tells him that in order to
make it big in the business, he will have to do a lot of things that he does not want to do.
37:00 mins- Andre is drunk in the club and is referring to himself in third person. Rhonda
immediately takes him out of the room so that he can go take his pills.
38:00 mins- Since Hakeem no longer has anyone performing with him, he convinces his
brother to perform on stage with him, which angers Lucious and makes Cookie happy.
42:00 mins- Cookie gets pulled in the car with a woman named Agent Carter. The agent
needs Cookie to testify about something in front of a grand jury and Cookie says that if
she testifies then she will get killed.

Episode 3- Observation Notes

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2:00 mins- Teyanna is recording a video with a woman who was featured on her song
and they have issues working together and take a break. The womans manager
comes at Lucious talking very disrespectful. Lucious takes the manager to his trailer
to have a discussion but beats him up very badly so that he knows not to mess with
him again. Cookie then shows up wanting to make sure everything is ok with the
arrangement of Bunkies funeral.
5:00 mins- Lucious finds out on the front cover of a magazine that Kid Fo Fo gets
signed with a record label named Creedmoor, Lucious biggest rival and they made it
seem like Creedmor stole Kid Fo Fo from him, which gives Lucious sort of a bad
look.
6:00 mins- A detective comes to Lucious office saying that they have an eye witness
to Bunkies death. Lucious immediately gets Andre to find out who the person is
through a contact that he has at the police station.
8:00 mins- Cookie is trying to find a songwriter for Jamal and Andre gets her to go
talk to these twins who wrote 4 #1 hits last year. Anika then comes up and they
actually knew her, so they left Cookie and went with Anika. Jamal finds out about
Cookie auditioning songwriters and tells her that he doesnt need any help, that he
wants to write all of his songs, but Cookie assures him that he will need help and she
is going to find him a songwriter.
10:00 mins- Anika brings a private detective in the room with Lucious and Vernon
and she tells them that she hired the detective to follow Cookie around. They find out
that she has been talking to what seems like feds. They think Cookie is trying to get
back at Lucious and send him to jail.
11:00 mins- Lucious goes to see Cookie while she is viewing Bunkies body and
confronts her about the fact that she has been meeting with the feds. Lucious thinks
Cookie snitched on him so that she could get out of jail early and he will do anything
to protect his company and family.
13:00 mins- Lucious speaks at Bunkies funeral saying that he was a gambler, drunk
and a degenerate, but he was his friend and was always there for him and his family.
It flashes back to when Bunkie warned Lucious and Cookie about how someone was
coming to kill them and Bunkie helped them get away while he was held at gunpoint.
16:00 mins- Andre has reached out to his contact at the police station by arriving at
her office and having sex with her, so that he can get the name of the witness of
Bunkies murder.
17:00 mins- Lucious begins to feel strong cramps in his hands and legs due to
symptoms of his ALS, but the doctor said he shouldnt feel those cramps until further
along in ALS. He plays it off when Anika asks him whats wrong by saying that his
leg just fell asleep.
19:00 mins- Rhonda hears Andre having a conversation on the phone with the deputy
that he slept with to get the information from. Rhonda questions him on how he got
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that information and he shows her what he did to get it, which was having sex with
her.
21:00 mins- Hakeem is in the club and some woman named Camilla texts him asking
if he wants to go out tonight. He lies and says hes sick, but she is right behind him in
the club. She is a woman who is much older than Hakeem.
22:00 mins- Agent Carter tells Cookie how Lucious found out that they were working
together. They make it seem like Agent Carter is a parole officer for Cookie, so that
he is not so suspicious and ruins the case that they are building up together. Cookie
asks in return that hey find Puma for her.
25:00- Cookie asks Puma to write a hit song for Jamal and he says that he doesnt
write music anymore, but he sends her an old song that he made a long time ago.
29:00- The detective working on Bunkies case goes to talk to an old homeless man
named Old Salty. He gives him some beer and he begins to open up to the detective.
He eventually lets the detective know that he saw Lucious kill Bunkie.
30:00 mins- The family has gotten together, with the boys bringing their dates, and
have a family dinner at Lucious house. Jamal performs the song that Puma sent
Cookie, but has changed the melody of it a little, for the family. Lucious says it was a
great song and since he bought it from Puma a long time ago he owns the song that
Jamal just sang.
36:00 mins- Andre tells Hakeem that he knows that even though Jamal performed a
good song, it doesnt matter because Lucious will choose Hakeem anyways because
he is the favorite. That offends Hakeem because he feels that his dad will choose him
because he is talented and can run the business.
37:00 mins- Cookie walks in on Lucious struggling to open a bottle of pills, but he
claims its just hypertension. She feels that Lucious is scared about something that is
chasing him and he doesnt want it to catch him. Hakeem goes home to Camilla, a
woman much older than Hakeem that he has been keeping on the low for the year. He
calls her his momma, but has sex with her.
40:00 mins- Lucious shows up at Jamals house and Jamal lets him know that he is
hurt because he performed that song for him because he loves him, but Lucious just
spit in his face. Lucious says he just always wants Jamal to be tougher since he was a
baby, so that he could defend himself in the world. Jamal says that he has been
getting beat by his dad since he was a baby because he hates him for being gay. Jamal
says that he is a man and he doesnt need his dad to understand him or have anything
to do with him and he decides that he is moving out of the place that Lucious is
paying for. Now he is more determined than ever to get Empire and prove to his dad
that even though he is gay he is not different and can run it.

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