Timbaland Talks War Machine Terrence Howard ‘Empire’ Raps and Hakeem Yazz the Greatest

Terrence Howard might be the face of Empire, but Timbaland is the heart beat. The prolific musician works behind the scenes as the executive producer of music on the hit Fox musical. Now, Timbaland is opening up at the original War Machine Terrence Howard and his raps as Lucious Lyon. The Emperor of Sound is also discussing Hakeem actor Bryshere Y. Gray, a.k.a. Yazz the Greatest, and his big plans for the up and comer.

Timbaland recently spoke to Vulture where he opened up about the flak that Terrence Howard gets for his raps on the show:

“It’s about the emotion. Lucious rapping is really like him talking and doing his role, not about him rapping … He shows you, I’m not a rapper, but guess what, you feel from the dialogue that it relates to you. It’s like comedy, in a way. It’s not serious.”

Timberland went on to reveal the cast member that he thinks he can skyrocket to fame:

“Hakeem [played by Bryshere Y. Gray, a.k.a. Yazz the Greatest]. You ain’t even got to finish that. Jussie [Smollett, who plays Jamal] is a star, too, but they got their arms around him. Once I get with Jussie, I’m going to show him what to do. I think too many people are focused on him because of his sexuality. Everybody got their arms around him. I just need to put my arm around him that one time and take him away from that world. He needs to be with the Weeknd.”

Timberland is crafting a plan to Yazz take off, adding:

“People are gonna like him. It’s just a getting-to-know process. The problem with Hakeem is, Fox gotta understand, he is a musical artist. That's his first passion, so he gotta put out a Yazz the Greatest mixtape. He has to. We have to. He has to do everything the kids are doing right now. What he is doing is cool, but we need some more music. We need some other gutter stuff beneath that.”

What do you think about Timberland’s comments? Who do you want to see run the Empire? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

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