ALEXANDRA ANDY ANGEL ASSISTANT_DIRECTOR AYANNA CARLOTTA CASSIE COTTON CROWD DEREK DIRECTOR DR_FISHER GONZO JAHIL JAX JAYDEN MAN_1 MAN_2 MAURICE MISS_BRUCE MISS_RUBY NAKISHA NATALIE NOAH PA PAPARAZZI_1 PAPARAZZI_2 SIMONE STAR US_POSTAL_WORKER SIMONE Previously on Star. CARLOTTA Principal Sportswear just called. They're looking for somebody for their new campaign. NOAH So, what do they want me to do? CARLOTTA New Orleans pride. AYANNA Pick your face up off the ground, Maurice. I'm back. ANGEL I can't wait to get into a hotel with just you and me. SIMONE I got to go finish packing. COTTON Meet your grandson. Hey, Jayden. I'm Cotton. JAYDEN I thought I was going to meet my dad. MISS BRUCE Ya'll been getting furniture all week. JAX Did you listen to the song I wrote? You could give it to someone at the label. CARLOTTA What's going on with you? MAURICE Meet Natalie Knight. CARLOTTA Your girl is getting kickbacks. MAURICE Carlotta. STAR Why don't you give me that music you wanted Maurice to hear? CARLOTTA The sponsor called. Somebody else caught their eye. You. DEREK The lawyer said my settlement check came two weeks ago. MISS RUBY I was just trying to spruce the place up. DEREK With my money. I got to move out. COTTON I'm your dad. JAYDEN I don't want to come here anymore. JAHIL Get 9-1-1 now! DIRECTOR I'm sure you've heard this before, but you are simply stunning, Alexandra. Every shot fire. SIMONE Yeah. She is stunning. STAR Sure is. SIMONE I just can't shake Otis, and what he did to me. And I can't believe I'm opening up my heart to you and you're still concentrating on Alex right now. STAR I can't believe that we're at a photo shoot for no damn reason, practically invisible. While Alex is on the come up, and you don't care. SIMONE Girl, calm down. We're on the come up, too. Ayanna booked us with Hot Track Live and Sound House is sponsoring us. STAR Ayanna's not doing that for us, Simone. She's getting this tour back together for Noah Brooks. That's it. I can't believe that bitch is back. SIMONE Okay, Star, she ain't a bitch, okay. And regardless, we're opening up for a national tour and this live TV performance will get us there. Can you imagine being Noah right now? This Principal Sportswear thing was supposed to be his gig. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR All right, ya'll. Let's take ten. ALEXANDRA I don't like being up there without them. This feels weird. NOAH Yeah, okay. Look. You need to get over yourself, all right? Take in the spotlight. You deserve this. ALEXANDRA You're right. NOAH All right. Yeah. PA Do you mind holding Miss Crane's robe? I need to get her a sparkling water. Uh. STAR Who's he talking to? PA Okay. Thank you. SIMONE Walk away fast. JAHIL Hey. CARLOTTA Thanks. JAHIL How's Cotton? CARLOTTA Getting her blood drawn in case Jayden needs surgery. I can't believe this mess. JAHIL All them doctors and they can't figure out why the boy had a seizure. It's been three damn days. CARLOTTA Look at us. Grandparents. Worried about a boy we don't even know. JAHIL Well, maybe it's our do-over, Carlotta. CARLOTTA Maybe. Bruce said he got a mouth on him like Cotton used to have. JAHIL Oh, yeah. That kid is a jackass. But he is cute. I'll give him that, he's cute. CARLOTTA Yeah. JAHIL Hey, listen, if you want to go and get the girls and Noah TV ready for the live show, I got it covered here. I already prepped Andy and Angel. Want me to call Maurice, have him come pick you up? Wow. That man is stupid. He had himself a dime. You want me to take his ass out? CARLOTTA With your heart, old man? I just got so much going on. Cotton. The girls. Now Noah. I just can't let one ball drop. JAHIL Go home. My shift. My heart ain't so bad I can't sit here and cover my grandpa duties. CARLOTTA Yeah. Okay. NATALIE So Natalie, you hired your own security firm and charged my label. NATALIE It's called capitalism. MAURICE Natalie also got our artists some great exposure. Come on, all promoters get kickbacks here and there AYANNA Not on my watch. You're both fired. Get out. NATALIE Bitch, please. MAURICE You sure about that? I walk, they're off their game for Hot Track Live. And you and I both know they need to get Sound House on board for Noah's tour. AYANNA I just fired you and you're still trying me with this cheap smooth talk? Get out. MAURICE Oh, but I'm right. And so is my A&R game. I do it better than anyone at this label. See, you been looking for Midtown's crown jewel since you got here. I could help find you one. But if you fire me, I work for the competition. NATALIE Don't beg, Mo. AYANNA Bring me an artist to back up your promises. Or you're done here. NATALIE Wow. I just got fired, and you just saved your ass. MAURICE Look, I put in too much work here not to fight for what's mine. Now I find the next big thing, I make my name. NATALIE You know, I remember when you used to be all talk and cheap shoes. Now, you're just hella arrogant. MAURICE And I know what I want. Which is why we always work well together. NATALIE So where you gonna start? MAURICE The club. Internet. I'm-a go old school like back in the day NATALIE Or you can just look right under your nose. One of the Take 3 girls. The dark one. Crane. I think she could be bigger then her father. MAURICE Nah, nah, I'm not trying to break up Carlotta's girls. NATALIE Do you remember that you actually used to make us call you Clive as interns? Yeah. Get the Crane girl. Before someone else does. CARLOTTA Hey, how's it going? Sorry, I'm late. I was at the hospital. ALEXANDRA They said everything is going good, but I got to get out of here and rehearse for Hot Track Live. CARLOTTA Okay, let me hurry these knuckleheads along. Excuse me. How much longer? PA We're done for the day. But the commercial shoot has been moved up. Day after tomorrow in Savannah. CARLOTTA Wait, when was somebody going to tell me? Alex isn't even available. We got a live television performance. PA I'm sorry, I'm just a P.A. ALEXANDRA No, no, Carlotta, we can't let the girls down. CARLOTTA No, I know, I'm-I'm-a fix it. This Hot Track Live thing is way more important. MAURICE Hey, Carlotta. I heard about Jayden. Is he doing any better? CARLOTTA If it ain't about my artists, keep it movin'. MAURICE I still care about you, Carlotta. CARLOTTA I bet you do, sweetie. Now go on and get some Jesus. MAURICE This Principal Sportswear sponsorship is a big deal. It'll open a lot of doors for you. ALEXANDRA Yeah, we know that. MAURICE Who's we? ALEXANDRA Me and the girls. Who else? MAURICE Look around, this is all about you. You're Alexandra Crane. ALEXANDRA Of Take 3. MAURICE You know I think Take 3 is hot as hell. But I know you see how things are poppin' off for you lately. And you about to give Camila Cabello a run for her money. ALEXANDRA Yeah, well, that's not very hard to do. MAURICE I’m just sayin'. Time to start rethinking things. STAR Take a selfie for me on the plane. SIMONE And Alex. ALEXANDRA Yeah. SIMONE Remember, steal me some caviar. 'Cause you know I love it. STAR Simone, stop lying. ALEXANDRA Okay. STAR You love caviar, Simone. Okay, tell me what's in it. Exactly. ALEXANDRA Look, I'll be back in time for the show tomorrow. Hey, I see your face and you need to stop, because I got this. I will be rehearsing between every take on set. Promise. STAR Mm-hmm NOAH Hey, break a leg, baby. Mm. ALEXANDRA I will. NOAH Yes. ALEXANDRA Bye. SIMONE Man. Look at her. Coming up in the world. STAR Yeah, she coming up, all right. STAR You're obsessing over that laptop like it's porn. MAURICE Nah, I'm looking to break a new artist. STAR Really? I might have something for you. That roadie Jackson, he writes and produces. He gave me that. I haven't heard it yet, but could be good. MAURICE Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Wait up. So you ready for tomorrow? STAR Yeah. Simone and I are getting ready. Alex is being Alex. MAURICE That's got to be weird watching her jump to the head of the class like that. You cool with that? STAR Everybody gets their time to shine, right? It's her turn. MAURICE Yeah, but what if she pops off? What then? STAR Don't try to play me, Maurice. Stay out of our business. Focus on breaking your new artist. ANGEL You're dropping us from the show? AYANNA I have to drop someone. We only have 12 minutes on-air. That's only enough time for two acts. Noah is a lock because I have to get his tour up and going. And he has "So Sick" with Alex, so Take 3 is a natural choice for that second spot. ANDY Have you seen the Spotify charts? We have "Can't Stop Loving Her" soaring. AYANNA It doesn't matter. Alex is hot. Noah's a name. ANGEL Yeah, my uncle's not your favorite person. AYANNA This was purely a business decision. I'll give you two a few minutes. ANDY This is not business. ANGEL No, see, this is on Jahil. ANDY Damn! ANGEL Now we're paying the consequences. ANDY You know as long as we're getting repped by that snake, we gonna keep getting bit. ANGEL Maybe we split up to get free. ANDY Bro we weren't signed as solo artists. ANGEL Yeah, but what choice do we have right now? He's not here. We got to make some moves. We got to get from under him. ANDY So what do you suggest? ANGEL I don't know, man. I think we got to split up. JAHIL Okay, I got to go. I'm, uh, I'm late for a meeting at the label. I'll, uh, I'll be back. NAKISHA I told you I don't want you donating blood for Jayden. I don't know where you've been or who you've been with, and what you walkin' round with. You will not put your blood in my son. COTTON You came looking for me. NAKISHA I was looking for Arnold. COTTON Nakisha, you're a ho. You's the biggest ho I know. And you practically raped me and I haven't even been with a woman since. NAKISHA Wait up, ain't nobody rape you. JAHIL Ladies, stop, stop it. All right. You're both talking crazy 'cause you're scared. Jayden needs both his parents on the same page NAKISHA He has one parent and I can make a choice on who donates blood. JAHIL Well, actually, they want the whole family to donate if they ca n.all right, just in case Jayden needs surgery. NAKISHA You can donate. But I don't feel comfortable with Arnold, or Cotton, or whatever you call yourself. JAHIL I'll be back. COTTON CARLOTTA Time is up, bruh. Ayanna wants to hear some of your new music and so do I. NOAH Come on, Carlotta, you know I don't work well under that type of pressure. CARLOTTA Look, I'm an artist too. So I know what it's like to have a tight grip around your music. But you got to let go. You said you had a new song with Alex, right? NOAH But it's not all the way there yet. CARLOTTA Well, they want you to hear some new music on Hot Track Live. NOAH Tomorrow? On live TV? Come on. I-I need more time with my new stuff. CARLOTTA You didn't get the sponsorship. That means this Hot Track Live performance is the closest shot we got at getting your tour back on. NOAH And singing this DJ Khaled song is gonna get me there. Trust me. CARLOTTA You better knock it out the damn park, boy. NOAH You know I'm gonna knock it out the damn park. I will. Help me get there. Do it. DEREK What you doing here? MISS BRUCE Somebody tried to break into your grandma's house last night. MISS RUBY I don't know what you tellin' him for. What he care? DEREK Grandma, that is not true. MISS RUBY I packed your things. They over there. MISS BRUCE So you really about to move in with that little Mexican? DEREK We're not moving in together. I'm getting my own spot off Broughton. But I heard a few houses in the neighborhood been gettin' robbed. MISS BRUCE They just hit Mrs. Dotson's house, about two blocks away. You know they stole her damn dentures? MISS RUBY You got to be pretty hard up to steal somebody's teeth. MISS BRUCE I mean, they was gold-plated. MISS RUBY It ain't nothing but them little gang bangers hanging around on the street like it's 1992. DEREK And y'all not gonna say nothing? MISS RUBY What we supposed to say? Y-You know we can't call the police. MISS BRUCE You know ain't nobody doing no snitching around here. MISS RUBY Mm. MAURICE Yo, Alex, I sent you a song that I think would be good for your voice. Yeah, okay. I know you're focused on Take 3. Just take a listen. It's worth it. JAHIL Hey, there you are. So, how'd it go, huh? I'm sorry I missed the meeting earlier, nephew ANGEL I'm not your nephew. Ayanna dropped us from Hot Track Live. JAHIL What do you mean, Ayanna dropped you? What? I'll go talk to her ANGEL I don't want you to do anything. Andy and I are done. We finally found a way to get out of our contract with you. We're splitting up. JAHIL The hell you are. Look, just take a beat, all right. I realize you're upset. But let me tell you something. Your act is too good to let it go now. ANGEL I'll take my chances. Stay out of my life. JAHIL Angel. Angel, come on. ANGEL You're dead to me. STAR How's Jayden? JAHIL Uh, they still don't know anything. Hey, ain't it kind of late for you to still be rehearsing? STAR Three million people are gonna be watching us on TV tomorrow. No such thing as too late to be rehearsing. JAHIL You're nervous. STAR And you're bothering me. JAHIL What else is new? STAR I'm in a girl group, and I'm in here working my damn ass off the night before a performance by myself. I see Alex popping off so easy and the only thing I can think is that should be me. You know, the first time I sang for somebody, I got pissed off, 'cause they told me I was good. Good. I didn't want to hear that. I wanted to hear them say I was great. JAHIL Listen to me, Star. That fire, right there, that's your VIP ticket to everything you ever wanted. I saw that in you the first time you ever sang for me. You're the real deal, Star. STAR All right. Well, I'm rehearsing. So if you could let me do that. JAHIL All right. Oh, by the way, um, you were a little late on that last eight count. STAR Jahil, you know. JAHIL Just saying. STAR Damn it. MISS BRUCE Neighborhood watch? You tryin' to get yourself back in a wheelchair? You better be careful. DEREK It's a flyer. MISS BRUCE With your name on it. You ain't got no street sense, stupid ass. STAR When you finish with him, can you help me? NOAH Mm-mm, no, you can't rush perfection. COTTON Mom. CARLOTTA What you doing, Cot? Headed to the hospital? CARLOTTA No, Nakisha's still trippin' about me being there. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Could you. CARLOTTA This is Alex. I got to take this. Just wait right here. What's going on, Alex? Well, when you getting back here? STAR Yo, you done with him? You can help me with my flyaways. MISS BRUCE Five dollars? Boy, your career ain't that much in the hole. NOAH Man. MISS BRUCE Cheap ass. So, if y'all kill this, y'all on your way to a national tour. Guess I could say I knew y'all ho's when. SIMONE I'm sorry y'all got dropped. ANGEL It's cool. CARLOTTA Well, keep me updated. Bye. SIMONE What happened? CARLOTTA That was Alex, the shoot is running later than expected. She's still in Savannah. SIMONE I mean, we're not scheduled to start the show for another four hours so. CARLOTTA I'm-a call Ayanna and make arrangements for the jet to be on standby. STAR Told you. CARLOTTA Shut up, Star. Where's Cotton? CASSIE CASSIE Okay. ANDY CASSIE Damn, baby, you 'bout to make me sweat out my edges. ANDY I'm just trying to keep up with your big ass. CASSIE CASSIE What's wrong with you? ANDY Why you say that? CASSIE I don't know. Just distant all of a sudden. ANDY It's probably just I got my music on my mind. Sorry. CASSIE What's going on? ANDY Angel and I broke up, so I'm just trying to figure out ways to get money. So I can get studio time and finish up my EP. CASSIE Mm. I got you. Think that'll be enough to help you get started? ANDY I'm not taking money from you. CASSIE I'm sure I can find a way for you to return the favor. ANDY Cassie. CASSIE Look, I'm a very busy woman. Okay. You can run some errands for me. ANDY Just tell me where to go, and I'll get it done. CASSIE Okay. But not so fast. First you have to put your mouth to work. ANDY Yes, ma'am. MAURICE Without Alex, Hot Track Live greenlit Star and Simone to perform. AYANNA Take 3's not going on as Take 2. This is live TV. I'm dropping Take 3's performance. CARLOTTA Don't overreact, Ayanna. These girls been working too hard for this. AYANNA I'm sorry, Carlotta. Give Noah the whole 12 minutes. CARLOTTA What if Alex shows up? AYANNA Noah has a new song with Alex. He can close with her. They're fire together. CARLOTTA All right. I'll have him mic'd and ready. STAR So Alex goes to that shoot, doesn't show up, but she gets to perform and we don't? That seems fair. SIMONE Star, it ain't her fault. STAR Well then, whose fault is it, Simone? CARLOTTA Star, don't forget if Noah gets this tour, you open up for him. Come on, keep it together. STAR I'm sick of this. MAURICE I'll take care of her. CARLOTTA Stay out of it. MAURICE What you gonna do? Punch me in my face again? This is my job, Carlotta. Take 3's success is my priority and as your A&R, you want me on your side. You trying to do too much all the damn time. ANDY 'Sup, man? MAN 1 'Sup. MAN 2 I got you. GONZO What can I do for you? ANDY Uh, gonna get the platinum wash. GONZO You must be Cassie's new bitch. ANDY What? There ain't no bitches over here, homeboy. GONZO Relax, I'll take it from here. Cassie loves breaking in a virgin. CARLOTTA Ayanna's going out on a limb for you. She wants that tour. So do we. You got to fill the whole 12 minutes. NOAH That wasn't the plan. CARLOTTA It is now. You got to adjust. NOAH Man, I-I'm not ready to debut my new music tonight, all right, uh. CARLOTTA Well, you better get ready. Damn it. You drinking again? This is the reason Sound House was hesitant to work with you in the first place. NOAH It was just one drink. I promise. Just to relax from all this. That's it. STAR Ayanna's stealing our shot like it's nothing. MAURICE You'll always have a shot, Star. You know why? 'Cause you're a killer. STAR You're sick. Why don't you just say what you know? MAURICE No, we don't got to do this. STAR Yeah, we do. You know exactly what I did to my mother. I told you. And you been walking around, like you don't know nothing. Like everything's normal. MAURICE Yeah, you've been to the dark side. A lot of artists have. That pain, that inspires some incredible work. STAR Run this game on some other bitch, Maurice. MAURICE Yeah, well, you know Alex, she's making a name for herself. That's got to hurt. The question is, what are you gonna do to stand out? COTTON Hey, J. I brought you some juice. JAYDEN I only let my mother call me J. JAHIL Well, she's your mother too, all right, and she cares about you. We all just want you to get better. COTTON He's really hot. I'm gonna go get Dr. Fisher. JAHIL JAYDEN Am I gonna die? JAHIL Listen, kid. I know you don't know me very well. But I know that there's a lot of people out there that love you, okay. Especially, Cotton. And hey, I'm your grandpa, right? I'm not gonna let you die. Okay, I promise. CROWD NOAH Thank you. Thank you. A'ight, so, uh, I guess I'm-a follow with, uh, one of my old joints. A classic. "Pull Up." CROWD SIMONE We'll get another chance. STAR What if we don't? CARLOTTA Star. ALEXANDRA I'm here! Where are the girls? I got to talk to them. CARLOTTA Come on. You just got time to change for "Aim Shoot." Come on. ALEXANDRA Okay. Can you hold this please? CARLOTTA Yeah. ALEXANDRA Thank you. Okay. CARLOTTA Hurry up. CARLOTTA You need some help? ALEXANDRA What? CARLOTTA Well, hurry up girl. ALEXANDRA I'm trying. I can't get this zipper. CROWD NOAH Thank you. So, uh, I'm, um I'm gonna, tonight I'm gonna sing a new song for you. CARLOTTA The song is starting. Come on now. ALEXANDRA I'm coming. I'm almost done. CARLOTTA Come on, come on, come on. NOAH I hope you like it. CARLOTTA Noah's expecting you on stage. ALEXANDRA Where's my mic? Where's my mic? NOAH Look who we have here. CARLOTTA What is she doing? SIMONE I don't know. ALEXANDRA She's being Star. CROWD NOAH Give it up for Star. STAR Give it up for Noah Brooks. CARLOTTA I'm sorry, Alex. SIMONE Look, maybe she thought you weren't here yet. ALEXANDRA No, no, she knew. STAR We killed it. NOAH Yeah, all right, all right. That was crazy, it was. STAR That was crazy. ALEXANDRA You're garbage. NOAH Alex. SIMONE Yeah, you know what, Star, you took it way too far this time. STAR Why, Simone? Because I filled in for her? Or 'cause I sang with her man? CARLOTTA Star, when are you gonna learn? How many more people do you have to hurt? Y'all gonna have to raise your damn selves for a minute. Can you do that? ANDY I don't even know who you are right now. CASSIE And you don't need to know who I am. What you need is cash. That's why I gave you an opportunity to earn. ANDY No, you gave me an opportunity to be your personal drug mule. CASSIE You know what? This was a freelance gig, all right. Here. You don't even have to pay Uncle Sam. You're welcome. ANDY Thank you. CASSIE Yo, I gotta take this. Run the shower. I'll meet you there. Hello? Yeah, you got another job? ANGEL SIMONE What are you doing here? I mean, I'm-I'm glad to see you. Are you okay? ANGEL Nah. SIMONE Look, if it makes you feel any better, we didn't get to perform either, so. ANGEL Me and Andy broke up just to get out of our contract with Jahil. Everything I worked for is over. And you know what, everything leads back to him. I grew up looking up to him. But I can't even trust him. I can't trust anyone. SIMONE You can trust me. I know that we haven't been talking, but. ANGEL I want to trust you. But you keep a lot of things inside. SIMONE Yeah, well, there're some things that are not so easy to talk about. ANGEL Whatever it is, I can handle it. I promise. SIMONE Well, okay. My, uh my foster father. Otis. He he did some things that I that I didn't want him to do. ANGEL You don't have to say anything else. SIMONE Okay. ANGEL I love you. MAURICE Star reminded me of Etta James. She was open, raw, ready. The crowd loved her. NATALIE So why are you tripping, Maurice? You already have your Star. MAURICE Yeah, Carlotta would flip if I push Star to go solo. But Star, that girl, she's a force to be reckoned with. Do I walk away from that? NATALIE You love Carlotta. You can't even hide it. MAURICE Well, I don't want to hurt her. NATALIE So you're willing to sacrifice your career for her feelings, Mo? Mm. You're acting like a newbie. Star wouldn't just give you Midtown, she's capable of delivering the world. You know that. CARLOTTA Sorry I'm late. Sorry. DR FISHER I was just explaining that Jayden's kidneys are shutting down. We have to stabilize him and then begin dialysis. NAKISHA What does that mean? CARLOTTA You're gonna have to find him a new kidney. DR FISHER Mm-hmm. COTTON He could have one of mine. NAKISHA No. COTTON Bitch, that's my child, too. JAHIL Cot. DR FISHER It doesn't matter. Unfortunately, neither of you a is a match. I've already put Jayden on the UNOS list, so now it's-it's just a waiting game. JAHIL Doc, in the meantime, you can test me. And anyone else we know, for that matter. STAR What you doing? You're gonna hide in here all night? NOAH Yo, thanks for having my back tonight. STAR Of course. They ate it up. We're trending. NOAH Yeah, I saw that, but I didn't see any tweets about how good the song was. STAR Oh, my God, Noah, you're so sensitive. It's some of your best work. You don't need a tweet to tell you that. NOAH I was wasted when I wrote it. STAR I thought you were done with that. NOAH So did I. STAR Old habits are hard to break, right? PAPARAZZI 1 Noah! Noah! Are you stepping out on Alex? Are you and Star together? Is she inside? NOAH It's not ain't even like that. PAPARAZZI 2 But you just sang with her. Is she replacing Alex? NOAH Look, she just filled in, all right? That's it. Nobody could replace Alex. PAPARAZZI 2 No-Noah! PAPARAZZI 1 Noah. Noah, what is your relationship status? PAPARAZZI 2 What did you think of her performance? CARLOTTA It's my job, as your manager, to protect you. You need to be in rehab. NOAH What? Come on. CARLOTTA Look, you heard me. We got to figure this out. NOAH It's not gonna. AYANNA Sound House saw your performance on Hot Track Live and they loved your new song. They want to hear your entire album. NOAH Really? Uh, t-that's-that's amazing. O-Okay. CARLOTTA Told you. It's all good. NOAH AYANNA Congrats, Noah Brooks. You're one step closer to a national tour. NOAH I-I can't believe this. AYANNA Whatever the hell you've been doing to get here, keep doing it. Because it's working to finally get you back on top. ANGEL Oh, my God. SIMONE I'm ready. ANGEL You sure? We can wait as long as you want. SIMONE You said you love me, right? ANGEL Yeah. SIMONE God, that's Miss Carlotta. Go go go. Go go. ANGEL I mean, what difference does it make now? Everything's on the table already. SIMONE Just go. I'm not here. ANGEL US POSTAL WORKER Are you Angel Rivera? ANGEL Yeah. US POSTAL WORKER Please sign here. SIMONE What is it? ANGEL It's a letter from Immigration. They denied my DACA application. I got a notice to appear. COTTON Where have you been? At the label, right? CARLOTTA I'm sorry. This week has been crazy. COTTON This week? My whole damn life. First it was the music. Then Mary. Then Mary's girls. Now Noah. I needed you this week. CARLOTTA I know. COTTON I blame you for this. JAHIL Hey, don't talk to your mother like that. COTTON When I ran off to be with Grandma, you told me don't come back until I became a man. So I tried to be a man. And I got with Nakisha for you. So that you would take me back. CARLOTTA I'm sorry. COTTON And now my son is about to die because I tried to be something that I wasn't. ALEXANDRA Jax? JAX What's up? ALEXANDRA This is your track? JAX Yeah, it was, um. I was hoping Take 3 would consider it. ALEXANDRA Let me have it. JAX You for real? Your voice on this would be crazy. Y-You think, you think Star is gonna be cool with that, though? ALEXANDRA I can't worry about how she feels. Not anymore. This is business. So let's get started. MAURICE I got your next solo artist. Mm-hmm. I'm about to close the deal right now. MAURICE It'll get the people talking, which is a good thing. Scoopish will run it tomorrow. STAR You sure it's a good idea? MAURICE I'm sure about you, Star. Now it's time to see what the world thinks. STAR CASSIE You must be out of your damn mind thinking you can run game on me. GONZO We didn't shortchange you CASSIE You know what. GONZO And that's on everything. CASSIE Why am I missing 15 Gs? ANDY What the hell? CASSIE I'm almost done here, baby. GONZO Cassie, listen CASSIE Nah. Let's get the hell out of here. I said move, boy.