‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’: Cartier and Raq Are Bound to Clash

Power Book III: Raising Kanan proves just how cutthroat Raquel “Raq” Thomas (Patina Miller) is. Kanan’s (Mekai Curtis) mother runs a lucrative drug business with her brothers, Marvin (London Brown) and Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays). Raq is now trying to expand her business, but she may be in over her head. Also, a businessman named Cartier ‘Duns’ Fareed (Omar J. Dorsey) has set his sights on Raq.

Though Raq is intrigued with Cartier because of his business knowledge, he is seemingly looking for something different. In fact, we think this duo is bound to clash with each other.

Cartier and Raq are very similar in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’

When Cartier and Raq first meet one another, they are equally intrigued, albeit for different reasons. Cartier is enthralled by Raq’s beauty and seemingly looks to have her on his arm. In contrast, Raq knows Cartier because of his infamous business dealings. She is more interested in learning from him about expanding her business — not anything romantic.

“From the outside looking in, Raquel seems like the perfect match for Cartier,” Dorsey told Variety. “She is driven, powerful, wealthy, and she does not need him. She could be the perfect Queen…but Raq is a different beast. She’s not made to play the ‘helpmate.’ She is a ‘sun’, and the world revolves around her. Cartier is also a ‘sun’, so this dynamic will be very fun to watch play out.”

Raq and Cartier are bound to clash

Since they are both so similar, Cartier and Raq think in the same vein. Raq wanted Lou to get rid of Crown Camacho (Quincy Brown) to be more focused on the family business, which Lou did. However, she did not anticipate her baby brother running to Cartier for help instead of her. As a result, Cartier is now tied up in the record business.

Crown’s death was supposed to benefit Raq, but it benefited Cartier. Now in some ways, Raq and Cartier are dependent on each other. As two alpha types, this is bound to get explosive in the ugliest way possible.

Cartier could be the cause of Raq’s downfall

Now that Cartier is involved with the Thomas family’s record business and Raq has started stealing away one of his East Coast distributors, things are bound to get ugly between them. Fans of Raising Kanan know that Raq doesn’t play, but Cartier has a violent, vicious side to him that’s downright terrifying.

In fact, Mays, who portrays Lou Lou on the show, hinted that Cartier could be the cause of Raq’s downfall.

“At first, it seems like he’s a homie, but I think there’s going to be conflict later because he’s so slick, and Lou Lou isn’t with the slick s***, and Crown Camacho [played by Quincy Brown] is still in the equation, so it gets real,” Mays told The Koalition. “He is prepared for conflict. What he’s not prepared for is the manipulation behind the scenes, mechanizing, and people plotting and s***. The Game of Thrones s***, he’s not with all that.”