Empire

---

Damn. Had I known

what I know now.

But today cats are different.

We all know selling and competition,

that's what this country's built on.

It's all about one thing:

making money.

Money, baby.

Simple as that.

Everything else is just bullshit.

Money is why people come here

from every country in the world.

It's what the American dream

is all about.

You think people come here from all over

the world to live in East New York...

in Harlem, the South Bronx...

because of the beautiful views,

because of the f***ing quality of life?

My name is Victor Rosa.

I'm young, Latin and good-looking,

and I call it like I see it, baby.

'Cause I'm gonna tell you what I think

whether you wanna hear it or not.

'Cause you're not gonna get

bullshit from me. Uh-uh.

I'm a businessman, an entrepreneur...

like Rockefeller and Carnegie.

And in my time a geek motherf***er

like Bill Gates. That's right.

They all did it themselves.

Fought the odds and made a fortune.

So why can't I?

Like them, I got a product.

I sell it aggressively

and I make money- a lot of it.

It doesn't take advertising to sell my

product- it pretty much sells it self.

It takes brains to make money

and survive in this business.

And that may have been the same

for Rockefeller as it is for Gates...

but in what I do, you f*** up, you don't

just lose one of your stock options.

So we run out of

my boy Jimmys crib.

Me and Jimmy, we got into this together

when we was just kids out there...

and we worked our way

from lookouts.

It's my crew, but I honestly

couldnt't do it without Jimmy.

And Chedda.

Chedda's a monster, yo.

Not because of his size,

but because he's all heart, baby.

Blackest motherf***er I know.

Jay. Well, Jay

is a special case.

He's what you call simple-

an idiot savant.

Sometimes more "idiot " than "savant. "

What we make here is my product-

a heroin mix I call "Empire. "

Okay, it works like this.

There are three other dealers

who work this area beside me.

You got Hector's "Exorcist. "

You got Tito

who sells his "Severe. "

And then there's Negro.

That motherf***er's a legend.

Damn good businessman

for a f*ggot.

Not that I got anything against faggots,

but I gotta give it up to him.

"Dancing Queen " is a dope-ass name

for his sh*t too.

We al I get our supply

from the same connect-

La Colombiana,

Joanna Menendez.

We all sell the same product-just mix

it differently, put our own label on it.

I cut mine the least

because I believe in purity.

Tito, though, cuts his sh*t

as deep as he can...

and gets more packets

per ounce that way...

But I get loyal buyers.

People know Empire

and they look for it.

But dumb-ass Tito can't even begin

to understand how that works.

That's why he's

always in some sh*t.

It's a funny thing,

and it might seem hazardous to you...

but we all hang out

in the same places.

No need to step

on each other's toes, right?

But for those of you who have

never been in my neighborhood...

we 're split up

into four separate areas.

The meat of it belongs to me.

Exorcist's got some decent spots.

And Negro's is below that-

around Buckner Boulevard.

Severe's got spots next to mine.

As you can see, sometimes they tend

to slip and overlap into my spot.

And when that happens,

you got trouble.

You trying n' to f*** up my shot, right?.

Vic! Vic!

- What's up?.

- Beef right now, nigga.

- Are you waiting on this sh*t?.

- F*** this motherfuckin' game, man!

Yo, word is they got David layin'

in the street like a little b*tch, son.

- They beat the sh*t out of him, kid.

- Let's do this motherf***er.

Remember when I said

Tito was always in some sh*t?

Well, he was trying to move in

on one of my spots again.

I mean, we're talking

maybe 20 feet...

but that 20 feet was worth

30 grand a week easy.

I got it from my brother G-

you gotta go straight to the leader

and take him down hard.

You do that, and it's over.

- Motherf***er!

- Yeah, nigga, yeah!

F*** me?.

F*** your damn self, f***er!

You're getting your ass kicked!

You f***ed up, kid.

You snatched my nut, all right?.

You take my nut...

I'll f***in' take your nuts,

motherf***er.

You hear me?.

Huh?. I can't hear you,

motherf***er.

What the f*** you doin'?.

Lucky I don't blow your mother f***in'

head off, motherf***er!

- Come on, you motherf***er!

- It's all right, man. Come on.

Call me, motherf***er.

You tell Tito to call me.

There's a strange fairness

at work here.

Everybody pushes the boundaries

every day.

You push, you push some more

and see how they react.

Yeah, it seems stupid, but remember:

every foot is a dollar.

And dollars is the only thing

that matters out here.

Yo, Jason.

What?.

What you mean, what?.

Get over here.

Damn.

What's wrong with you, man?.

Why are you staring at me?.

Did I do something?.

Why you gotta do something

for me to stare at you, man?.

- You know I love you.

- I know.

Well?. You love your daddy?.

You know I do.

Well, you gotta tell your daddy

sometime, man.

Why we gotta go through this?.

We gotta go through it because sometimes

your daddy wanna know you love him too.

I'm always loving you,

playing with you.

Ain't all about you

all the time, man.

I love you, Dad.

That didn't hurt. Right?.

Yeah.

Snotty, man. You always-

Get outta here, man.

Go play your game, man.

Jose's here.

He's all f***ed up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Jason, go to your room.

What the f*** happened?.

Who did this?.

- I think Empire's trying to make a move.

- You're saying Vic did this to you?.

- I'll find out about this sh*t.

- Wait a minute, Tito.

He's not exactly moving in.

What the f***

does "not exactly" mean?.

Look, we was chillin', right?.

And I saw David.

I don't like that motherf***er,

so I slapped him around a bit.

He ran away like a b*tch. Next thing

I know, Vic is movin' in on us, man.

Get me a drink.

What the f***, man?.

What's the problem?.

I'm tired of you, you piece of sh*t.

- You gonna kill me now, man?.

- Shut the f*** up!

You'd better tell Vic I didn't have

sh*t to do with this. You hear me?.

I'm f***in' tired of your sh*t, man.

Go home, wash your f***in' ass.

Tell good-bye to your mother

and your f***in' kids.

Then come back here. Then I'm gonna

kill you, you f***in' piece of sh*t!

You hear me?.

We straight?.

- Yeah.

- Is we straight?.

- Yeah.

- Get the f*** outta here.

I'm gonna go play Playstation

with my son right now.

Nobody'd better f***in' interrupt me.

You hear me?.

For everybody- everybody-

money is what life is all about.

Getting it, keeping it,

losing it, holding it...

needing it, living it

and dying for it.

You have to look like you got it,

whether you do or not.

That's how you get respect-

you gotta put your money on display

the right way.

My brother G knew just how to do it,

and he taught me well.

I need him now.

I mean, not for nothin',

but just to look at him...

with his G chain...

the old Alpaca sweater...

Grandmaster Flash

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