Friends Jussie Smollett (left) and Bryshere Y. Grey have had to become feuding brothers on Empire.
Friends Jussie Smollett (left) and Bryshere Y. Grey have had to become feuding brothers on Empire.
Smash hit show looks set for a strong second season, writes Dominic Corry.
As Jamal and Hakeem, the two younger Lyon brothers, Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Grey drive much of the family drama in Empire, but they're also the smash hit show's primary musical talents, and each experienced breakout songs in season one - You're So Beautiful and Drip-Drop, respectively.
"We've been so wonderfully embraced by the music industry," Smollett tells TimeOut. "Because they easily could've been like, 'Y'all ain't real. Y'all a bunch of actors singing and tap-dancing around and rappin' and stuff like that. But we really are artists and I think it was so important to [Empire creators] Lee Daniels and Danny Strong that we really do know how to do what our characters do, which is why they pulled actual artists who act versus actors who perform."
Now the show has become the phenomenon it is, Smollett promises the music in season two will up its game, with a raft of new collaborators joining Timbaland in helping craft the show's sound.
"The cool thing is that people really wanna work with all of us now. Like Swiss Beats, like Ne-Yo. I wanted to make sure we didn't lose any of the fire that we had in the first season. Like, we were hungry, and we worked so hard. But we are even hungrier. I keep saying I feel like season one was when Michael did Off the Wall, and now we're creating our Thriller. This can't suck." Grey, known as Yazz to his friends, and Yazz The Greatest to his fans, is similarly excited about season two's musical possibilities.
"The music is getting better and better," Grey tells TimeOut. "I write all [Hakeem's] music this season, collaborating with Ne-Yo and Swizz Beatz and Timbaland."
The friendship between Hakeem and Jamal also represented the show's sweetest relationship in season one. It doesn't survive into season two.
Lucious (Terrence Howard, C) has a moment with his sons Hakeem (Bryshere Gray, L) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett, R) in a scene from Empire.
"It's Cookie [Taraji P. Henson] and Hakeem working together so the brothers are fighting against each other for the throne," says Grey. "And it can get deadly. It was disappointing because in the beginning we had to create a genuine love for each other as brothers. So when [our characters] had to fight and really start to argue, we didn't hang out as much, because we wanted to bring it for the scene."
At the end of season one, hip-hop mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) named Jamal as the head of Empire Entertainment.
"Jamal's getting his Michael Corleone on," says Smollett. "I always joke that Jamal is like the gay Tupac. A little thuggish in his soul."
Although primarily a singer, Smollett had acted before, notably with the rest of the Smollett family in mid '90s sitcom On Our Own.
"I don't remember a time when I wasn't singing, but I've been seriously doing music, recording, since I was 14. Before this I was singing at places like the Viper Room and the House of Blues as an independent artist. Then Empire came along. It was just the most perfect fit possible. I read the script and thought 'This is made for me, I have to do this'." Empire and Smollett, who is openly gay, have been celebrated for challenging homophobia in the hip-hop world with the character of Jamal.
"The fan and viewer response has been unbelievable. It really touched me in a way where it's almost unexplainable. Once I was sitting at breakfast with [co-star] Gabby [Sidibe] and this random guy comes up. He didn't ask for a picture, he didn't ask for an autograph, he was an older black dude and he said 'I just wanna tell you, watching you has made it easier for me to talk to my son.'" As Jamal's experiences more and more reflect his own, Smollett admits real life has informed his portrayal.
"I'm going through life with Jamal. It's ridiculous. But it's nice. I might sound like a psychotic artist but I really feel like me and my homie Jamal, we're going through this situation together. And the things that he can't handle, I can handle. And the things that I can't handle, I look to him somehow.
"I'm, probably to a fault, a private person. But I'm also kind of an open book so it's so it's a contradiction, y'know? So it's nice to be able to hide behind the music a little bit while still being honest through the music, I love it so much."
Was Smollett surprised at all by how positively his character's storyline was received?
Bryshere Gray as Hakeem Lyon and Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon in the Empire.
"If I'm being completely honest, it didn't surprise me, because in my heart of hearts I really truly believe that human beings are accepting and good and really don't give a shit. The success of the show surprised me, but the acceptance of that storyline did not." Where Smollett comes across as an even more animated and likeable version of his on-screen alter ego, the soft-spoken Grey couldn't seem less like the brash Hakeem.
"Hakeem is an a-hole," admits Grey. "He does what wants. I'm more cautious and respectful in my actions. I love my momma." Grey was focused on recording an album for Interscope Records when Empire came along, and was initially reluctant to try acting.
"My manager said 'This is big, it could change your life. It may change your life faster than you expect.' So I took the opportunity. I did an audition with Terrence and Taraji about five times and I got the role." As a recording artist in his own right, Grey admits to worrying that people may not be able to distinguish between Hakeem and himself.
"Sometimes I think about it. I talked to Taraji and to Terrence and they go through it with Lucious and Cookie and they've been in the game longer than I've been alive. It's a big show. It is what it is. I'm writing Hakeem's music totally different [to my own]. It's just what I do outside of it. There's plenty of time after the show to make an album. I built a studio in my condo in Chicago so I'm always writing, creating and making beats."
Who: Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Grey What: Empire When and where: TV2 at 9.40pm, Tuesday September 29.
