Why ‘Raising Kanan’ Star Says 50 Cent is a ‘Genius’ Executive Producer
The Power Universe on STARZ continues to give viewers quality stories involving family, crime, and scandal. In the third installment, Raising Kanan, the story follows Kanan Stark’s rise to becoming a key player in the New York City drug dealing world. Omar Epps is one of the stars of the 50 Cent-produced drama and says 50’s executive producing skills are unmatched.
Omar Epps in ‘Raising Kanan’
Epps stars as Malcolm Howard, a major antagonist in Power Book III: Raising Kanan. But he has a dual role as viewers learn his true identity as the story unfolds. In season 1, he’s both an antagonist and a hero. By season 2, he is one of the deuteragonists.
Howard is a detective for the New York Police Department, which in turn makes him a sworn enemy of the South Jamaica crew. He harasses its inhabitants constantly to try to bring on a weak attempt at cleaning up the most dangerous neighborhood in NYC.
His character arc is set up throughout season 1 when he encounters young Kanan’s mother, Raquel. He questions her for his investigation and warns her to watch her back, as well as try to protect Kanan. Howard is later revealed to be Kanan’s father, which Raquel doesn’t want Kanan to discover, so she uses Kanan against Howard to target him and instruct him to kill him. In Season 2, fans learn Malcolm recovers from the shooting.
Why he says 50 Cent is a genius executive producer
During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Epps played a game of “Love and Ask It All,” a play on his hit movie Love & Basketball. He was asked a series of questions by Cohen about some of his personal favorites.
“What do you love the most about having 50 Cent as an EP of Power: Book III?” Cohen asks. Epps responded, “He’s a genius.” The Power Universe franchise is 50’s conception. The mothership series premiered on STARZ in 2014 and aired for six seasons. It followed the life of New York City drug pin, James St. Patrick, who struggles to leave the streets behind for life as a corporate businessman.
What Omar Epps loves about his role on the show
Epps’ character has become a central role in the Power spinoff. In an interview with PopCulture.com, Epps explained that the unknown twists and turns are what keeps not just viewers on the edge of their seats, but also the cast. He also enjoys that the cast can input their ideas into the storyline and character development.
“Sascha Penn (showrunner) is such a great collaborator, and he has a vision, and then we have discussions about… Well, because in our discussions, I’m just talking about me, it’s mostly about Howard’s backstory and how that informs where Sascha’s idea may be,” he said. “Then sometimes we sort of meet in the middle of, “Okay, maybe we can pull that off this way,” because it’s not just about Howard. What Howard goes through will affect what Burke goes through, will affect what Jukebox goes through… It’s all moving together.”
