Jamal Lyon is fresh out of rehab, so you would think that his father would cut him a little slack on Empire. Haha, just kidding. Lucious would never, ever give anyone an inch if it meant he could have something up on him. Jamal was recording with fellow rehab patient and musician Tory Ash, and Lucious slid on in to her DMs and poached her to be on his record instead of Jamal. Will Jamal work with Lucious on Empire? It seems like he can’t beat them, so he may as well join them.
Jamal and Tory were really making some great music, and let it be said that Cookie called all of this — she told Jamal to wipe the masters clean every night after he and Tory were done working, lest Lucious get his sweaty hands on it and ruin it, like he always does. Well, guess what happened! Lucious came in after hours, heard the rocking tune that Tory and Jamal had laid down, and decided that he needed Tory on his new album, the aptly-titled-for-a-devil Inferno. Jamal wasn’t happy, obviously, but does this mean that Jamal should get in with Lucious in order to make his music? Lucious is putting a lot of money behind his own record, so maybe Jamal should just suck it up and play the game with his father. He can always take his revenge later (which is what he should do, obviously).
This brings up an interesting question about Tory — what’s her deal? Was she just using Jamal to get to Lucious so that she could revive her career? Apparently, she is known as a bit of a “one-album wonder,” so maybe she latched onto the middle Lyon brother in order to get her career up. In that case, Jamal is working with two snakes, and he’s going to have to decide if he wants to risk getting bit or try and charm them instead. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.
