As the men on Empire keep falling further and further into a crazy oblivion of toxic masculinity and rap beefs, it’s the women on the show who have to step in, bail them out, and occasionally put them in their place. Such is the case with new-ish singer Nessa on Empire; she’s singing with Hakeem, sleeping with Andre, and, somehow, both dudes think that they own a piece of her. Excuse me? Luckily, Nessa stood up for herself on Empire, and it was a very satisfying moment for viewers, and, I’m sure, for her.
All of this started when Nessa and Andre spent the night together, and Shyne showed up early in the morning. Not for breakfast, but to kill Andre. Talk about overkill, dude. Anyway, Shyne wanted revenge against Andre and Lucious for the bad business deal they made him sign, and Andre was lucky that Nessa was there to stop Shyne from murdering him. Nessa, though, was none too pleased about why Shyne was there. She had no idea that Andre and Lucious had hurt Shyne, who she considers a family member, and she questioned the fact that Andre could do that and then sleep with her and act like none of it was a big deal. Point goes to Nessa for this one.
In the meantime, Nessa and Hakeem have been working together on tracks and, from what Hakeem says, “vibing.” Whatever that means (I’m too old for this slang). When Hakeem watered down the full diss track on the song he and Jamal were working on, Lucious decided to stoke the fire and make Hakeem blow back up. So what did he do? Told Hakeem that Andre and Nessa were sleeping together and that everyone knew about it and colluded to keep it a secret. Can you see me smacking my head against my desk? Hakeem went insane, and everyone was pretty shocked. And then Hakeem was all, “How could you do this to me?”
But Nessa straight-up told told him that he didn’t own her. Last time I checked, there was no ring on her finger, right? Can we get some Nessa snaps for that?
The Lyon boys, especially when goaded by Lucious, are very much men who just go out and take what they want. Sometimes, they have to be reminded to calm the eff down. Nessa is her own woman, and she is free to have sex with whomever she pleases, whenever she pleases. I’m glad that she shut down Hakeem, because she owes him absolutely nothing. They were making music together and hanging out — so what? They weren’t romantically involved, and she’s not obligated to him. Both Hakeem and Andre needed a reality check apart from their Lyon selfishness, and Nessa certainly gave it to them.
Images: Chuck Hodes/FOX (2)
