Empire Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: Born a Lyon

This week’s episode of Empire is starting off with a bang. Lucious wants to make sure Hakeem knows what he’s missing out on. He calls Hakeem out by having Freda perform the new song she made with Lucious. It’s right there in the lyrics: Lucious has some serious beef with Hakeem. Daddy’s little favorite is no longer Hakeem; she’s Freda.

Ouch! That has to hurt on so many levels.

In order to prove himself to the world, Hakeem announces that he’ll be battling Freda for his last name. Nobody can just “become” a Lyon. You have to be born one.

Things aren’t looking too good for Boo Boo Kitty, either. She has about 20 pregnancy tests on her sink and they all appear to be positive. Just to be sure, Anika takes one more. Yup, daddy’s ex-little-pet might be having a little one of his own. Guess Hakeem won’t be able to keep Laura around for much longer, either.

Cookie isn’t too happy that Hakeem declared war on Freda and Empire, either. I think she’s listening to what Laz has to say a little too much. Hakeem seems to know what he’s doing at the moment and only wants to promote himself and Lyon Dynasty.

Laz has finally crossed the line with Hakeem. He tells him to focus on promoting like he should be and not what they’re doing at Lyon Dynasty. Trying to be all macho man, Laz pushes Hakeem. I’ve never seen Cookie jump up so quickly. She slaps Laz across the face and tells him to never touch her son again. You go Mama Lyon! Really, Laz, you were going to fight a kid? Pathetic.

Way to go, Rhonda! After having a personal conversation with Rhonda about her pregnancy, Anika got a great idea. Rhonda explained how babies are “like kryptonite” to Lucious and how he’ll even stop by just to “chat” with her. Now that she’s all alone and no one wants anything to do with her, Anika just discovered her way back into the Lyon family. Let’s be honest, though — she wants their money.

Jamal gets an opportunity to record a song for Pepsi. If his song is chosen for their new campaign, it would be one of his biggest accomplishments. The only problem is that Jamal loves the tracks that both Lucious and Cookie have helped him create. In order to create the perfect song, Jamal tricks his parents into meeting on mutual grounds to work on combining their tracks. Jamal, you are one smart man. The combined song sounds like a hit, but Lucious and Cookie would rather die than work together.

In the end, the two decide to place a bet. If Hakeem wins the battle against Freda, Cookie gets to release Jamal’s next album through Lyon Dynasty. If Freda wins, Lucious gets to have Hakeem’s album for Empire. I’m not sure how that helped Jamal finish his song for Pepsi, but now there’s more on the line.

Jamal knows what he wants for himself and his music. He was able to combine the two tracks into an epic jam I could see myself dancing to. It worked so well that he got the stamp of approval from Pepsi. Congrats to Jamal! He definitely deserves it.

The night of the epic rap battle between Hakeem and Freda has finally arrived. Both contenders are at their best, throwing digs at each other and their families.

I was surprised by how well Hakeem did, but what really shocked me was when Hakeem announced that he was dropping his last name and going only by Hakeem from now on. Wasn’t the whole point of this rap battle to protect his name as a Lyon? Either way, it looks like Just Hakeem won the rap battle.

Wow, this whole night is full of surprises. Cookie’s sister, Candice (Vivica A. Fox), shows up to the after party without an invitation. She tells Cookie that their other sister, Carol, dropped her kids off at her house with a note saying this was all Cookie’s and Jermel’s fault. The two head off to Philly in order to set things straight. I wonder what Cookie knows that we don’t.

I think you can safely say that Boo Boo Kitty has gone off the deep end. Anika didn’t get the reaction she wanted when she went to Hakeem’s place to tell him about the baby. In fact, she didn’t even get to tell him — because he told her that he’s in love with Laura. Yeah, I’m not sure if I’d be able to tell him in that circumstance, either. And what I didn’t see coming here is Anika kidnapping Laura. We see Anika in disguise as Laura’s chauffer. there to take her home from the after party. I doubt Laura will be making it home by curfew.

What were your thoughts on this episode of Empire? Who do you think won the rap battle between Hakeem and Freda? Do you think Anika will keep the baby? I’m sure now that she knows the secret about Lucious she’ll want to use the baby to her advantage. When do you think she’ll tell people she’s pregnant? She can’t keep that baby hidden for long and I’m wondering if she’ll try to say it’s Lucious’ child. Why do you think Cookie’s sister, Carol, just ran off like that? What could be in Philly? Do you think Anika is going to kidnap Laura? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

New episodes of Empire premiere Wednesday nights at 9/8CT on FOX.

Photos: Chuck Hodes/FOX