Church Girl (2011) Movie Script
I couldn't ask
the lesson learned
All the things
that burn
I'll never
be the same
One truth still remains
When you
When you look at me
You can see
I'm a church girl
Every night
in the club
Still I'm a church girl
Don't try to
judge me
I'm still a church girl
It's a side of me
It's a side of me
When you look at me
You can see
I'm a church girl
Every night in
the club
Still I'm a church girl
Don't try to
judge me
I'm still
a church girl
It's a side of me
It's a side of me
I'm still
a church girl
Oh
I'm still
a church girl
I'm a church girl well
[GUN COCKING]
[GUNSHOTS FIRING]
[WOMAN]
May 28, 2008.
A day I will never forget.
It was crazy at
The Sapphire that night,
and, I mean, although the
police had been there
many times before, that night,
it was just...
it was different.
How did a preacher's daughter,
raised in
the church her entire life,
end up in a situation like this?
I mean, how did I get here?
My name...
is Emily Franklin
and this is my story.
Holy
Most holy
and everlasting Father
I'm blessed
By you
Father
I had enough
I had enough
We ask of you
Help your anointing
Father
Help your
anointing Father
On these
Young
Children
Lord we ask
that you cover
Let your angels
Walk beside
them Lord
Whoo
Oh Lord oh God
Beside them
Let the spirit
Walk up
beside them
Oh God, oh God
Let them spirits
all around them
Every
Every
Every
Every
Woo
Every day
Day
Oh
Oh Lord, Lord
Oh do it to them
We believe you in church
right now
In the name of Jesus
Whoa God
Ooh
I was 12 years old then.
God knows we loved to sing,
and that's exactly what we did.
We sang and we sang.
Some people came from
everywhere, all over,
just to hear my best friends,
Kaleta, Amber and me sing.
That's when we knew
we had a gift.
Mom always warned us that our
gift could either be a blessing
or a curse, and I didn't
understand it then,
but looking back on it,
I'm so glad my family
prayed for me.
For the Bible
Tells me so
Jesus loves me
This I know
For the Bible
Tells me so
It tells me so
Little ones
To him belong
They are weak
But He is strong
Yes
Jesus loves me
Oh yes
My Jesus, my Jesus
He loves me
Yes my Jesus
My God loves me
For the Bible
For the Bible
Bible tells me
So
So
Sunday morning at
Redeeming Love Church
where everybody is somebody
and Jesus is the reason why.
[LAUGHING]
I can still hear my auntie
and my mama praying over us
and God must have
heard 'em, too,
'cause Kaleta and I are
still singing in the choir
but, I mean, I wish I could say
the same for Amber.
Oh, oh.
That beautiful lady right there
is the honorable
Maya J. Franklin, our pastor.
That's my mama, y'all.
And hear me when I tell you,
nobody could preach
like my mama.
Have we had a good time
in church today?
[ALL]
Yes!
I feel the Holy Ghost
is here today.
[ALL]
Yes!
I feel the spirit in here
and while I feel
the spirit moving...
I want to challenge
you to be ready.
Keep on your minds
what we talked about today.
Be ready, be ready, be ready.
Don't get ready!
Be ready.
Because the Son of Man
is coming back
for a church
without spite or wrinkles.
I believe
Matthew 24 and 44 says,
"Therefore also be ready
because you know not the hour
that the Son of Man come."
And when you think
he's not coming, he's coming.
Look at the events in the world,
look at
the disasters in the world.
Deacon Sanders, will you
be ready?
Preachers, will you be ready?
Oh, God! Choir, will you be ready?
Yeah!
I know I wanna be ready
when He calls my name.
We'll be blessed at service
when the Lord finds us doing.
"Pastor Maya, what do you
mean by that?"
Well, I'm talking about
when he calls my name,
I'm gonna be found singing.
I'm gonna be found singing.
I'm gonna be found singing!
Oh bless the Lord.
Oh my soul.
I will continually have His
praises on my lips.
Oh, yes, Lord!
Can the church say yes? Yes!
Can the church say yes? Yes!
Be ready, be ready,
be ready, be ready, be ready!
Yeah, come on!
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
Come on and sing our own song.
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since you feel
with the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, yeah
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Oh since Jesus
came into your life?
One more time
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since you can feel
with the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, yeah
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since Jesus
Since He
saved your soul
Since Jesus
Since He
made you whole
Since Jesus
Since you've
been redeemed
Since Jesus
Since He
washed you clean
Since Jesus Oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh, oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh, oh Jesus
Since Jesus Ohh
Since Jesus
came into your life
Yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, yeah
Hallelujah
Come on
and bless Him
Praise His name
Yeah
All right, Mama. Hallelujah!
I feel Jesus
Oh yes
I want to
ask you a question
Have you tried
Jesus?
He's all right
Have you
tried Jesus?
He's all right
Have you
tried Jesus?
He's all right
Oh try
Jesus yeah
He's all right
Yeah
he's all right
He's all right
All right, all right
all right
He's all right
[WOMAN]
Oh... oh
Save me...
Come on, Mama!
Far away
Yes!
Yes, go on, Mama.
I'm a soldier
In the army
of the Lord
I'm a soldier
In the army
I'm a soldier
In the army
of the Lord
I'm a soldier
In the army
I got my
war clothes on y'all
In the army of the Lord
Yeah I got my
war clothes on y'all
In the army
Oh Georgia yeah
In the army
of the Lord
I am, I am, I am
I am, I am
Hey
When I think about
Jesus
What He's done for me
Think about Jesus
How He
set me free
I can dance, dance, dance
dance, dance, dance, dance
All night All night
All night
When I think about Jesus
How He heals me
He picked me up
and turned me around
Put my feet on
the ground
Oh, oh, oh
All night All night
All night When I look back
All night Over my life
All night And I think about
All night What I've been through
I don't know what
I've been through
Hallelujah
[WOMAN]
I will
Bless the Lord
Have all
The time for Him
Oh continue, continue
continue, continue
Clap your hands
Come on praise the Lord
The Lord has been
good to you
You ought
to be thankful
You ought to be
grateful
He's been real good
He's been real good
He's been mighty good
Show
Oh
Yeah
Yeah
Oh yeah
Good God
Praise Him
Praise Him
Hallelujah
Praise Him
Hallelujah
You ought to
praise Him
Praise Him
for your life
Praise Him for
your health
Praise Him
for your strength
Praise Him 'cause
he's good
Praise Him because he's got
our cavalry
Praise Him
Raise your
hands and praise Him
Yeah
Hallelujah!
Oh, God, hug somebody and tell
him we're dismissed.
Clap your hands and
Lord I got to
praise you
Lord you
been real good
Didn't have to
love me
Didn't have to keep me
But you
did it anyway
You did it anyway
Oh thank you
That's why
I want to thank you
I gotta thank you hey
I gotta, gotta pray
Thank you goodbye so
Oh
Whoo
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
All glory to God!
That's how we did it at
Redeeming Love every week,
singing and praising God.
I mean, it's...
it's... it's... it's funny.
Nine years ago, Kaleta, Amber
and I got our start singing
right here in this very church.
We just knew we were gonna be
the next big thing.
We called ourselves Promise.
Oh, but life took us in
different directions
and eventually,
we gave up on our dreams.
But little did we know
opportunity would soon
come knocking.
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Ooh, oh
How...
Now, see, I'm trying to
have a moment with the...
Amber? Yes.
Amber, Amber!
Oh, my God, look at you! Yes, honey, look at me.
You look... you look so...
Sweetie, you're fishing
for words.
I believe that the word
you're looking for
would be
something like, um, "fierce."
That would be it, from your
head down to your... your...
Yo.
Are those Manolo Blahnik? Girl, yeah.
These are Manama...
Manamana B...
Manolo Blahnik.
Girl, just what you said,
just what you said.
Ooh, and they bad, too. Thank you, girl.
Wait, wait, wait.
You went from
Payless to Manolos?
What you been doing, who you
been doing it with?
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
Okay, now, wait, you can't do
all that in the sanctuary.
No, girl, it's okay.
Woo! Hey, hey, get a hold of your...
Yeah!
'Cause when I think
of His goodness,
ooh, and all
that He has done for me...
My Jesus!
No, girl, my Jacob!
Ooh, ooh.
Stop it.
Amber, stop, stop it.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Did you just say Jacob?
Girl, yes, and he is fine!
Okay, where did you meet
Mr. Fine?
Girl, I was standing at
the bus stop one day, right?
And this big beautiful
blue shiny Bentley
pulled up on the side of me.
Honey, he rolled
down the window,
I look in, he looked at me,
told me I was fine enough
to be a model
and then he
asked me if I needed a ride.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Please tell me you
didn't get in the car.
Hell yeah, I got in,
he was ballin'!
Lola
You know it
Hey, hey, stop it.
Oh, sorry.
You cannot be
cussin' in the sanctuary.
Forgive me, Jesus.
Girl, yeah, I got in
and do you know, he took me to
dinner that night?
The same night? The same night.
Uh-uh, see, this ain't
making no sense.
Oh, Emily.
What?
Does love have to make sense?
You're in love?
Yes, girl, yes, I'm in love.
I love me some Jacob, girl.
He is so wonderful.
Okay, let me tell you
a little bit about him, okay?
Please, yeah.
He took me to the most
beautiful restaurant. The what?
The most beautiful restaurant. Oh, okay.
Girl, they had valet,
they had a ma...
ma... a ma... ma...
Matre d'?
Matre d'.
Yes, one of those.
Okay.
Oh, my goodness, girl, he has
his own private plane.
Girl, he flew us
to Miami, took me shopping
and we have been together
ever since.
Oh, my goodness,
he sounds amazing. He is.
Okay, so how long
have you known this guy?
I can't hear nothing
on this side.
Whole eardrum gone.
Gone.
Amber?
Huh?
How long have you
known this guy?
Girl!
Girl!
Yeah.
About a month.
A month.
That explains a lot, why
you haven't been to church,
Sunday school, choir rehearsal,
we had a bake sale...
See, that's why
I don't tell you nothing,
'cause you always judging me.
I'm not judging you,
I'm just saying we miss you
here at Redeeming Love.
Okay, and I miss
being at Redeeming Love.
Girl, come on.
There are so many memories
for us here.
Oh, my goodness,
me, you and Kaleta,
I can remember us growing up,
we were a mess, girl.
Yes.
A hot mess.
Sorry.
What was that song we would
break out into?
Oh, when Mama came?
The Clark Sisters! The Clark Sisters!
Yeah, but what was the song? "You Brought the Sunshine."
You brought the sunshine
Honey, I had to, 'cause if not,
your mama
would have beat your tail.
Oh, my goodness, those
were the days.
Those were the days!
Emily, when I walked in,
I heard you singing that song
that you and your dad used to
always sing.
"Oh How I Love Jesus.""Oh How I Love Jesus."
Emily, will you please sing
some more for me?
For you, no;
with you, sure.
Come on, Em.
I love to hear you sing. Come on now...
I have not heard your
tone in forever.
Okay, just a little snippet. I'll take what I can get.
Okay.
Okay.
Mi, mi, mi, mi, mi... You... you...
Hey, hey, stop. I was warming up.
Not like that you don't.Okay, sorry.
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Said oh
How I love
Jesus
[MAN]
Amen, amen.
[CLEARING THROAT]
Hey, baby.[MAN]
Sorry I'm late.
No, honey, actually,
you're right on time.
The voice of an angel, just like
I told you, right?
Come here.
Emily, this here is... Let me guess.
This must be Jacob. Stop!
Jacob, this is my very best
friend, Ms. Emily Rene...
Stop saying my middle name.
Franklin.
Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you.
Oh, no, baby.
The pleasure's all mine.
Okay.
My goodness, girl.
You've outdone yourself, baby.
I told you, baby.
Yes, yes.
Excuse me, sugar, you wanna
tell me what's going on?
Okay...
[MAYA] Yes, your mother
would like to know the answer
to that question.
[EMILY]
Hi, Mommy.
Hi, my baby, Emily.
[AMBER] Hey, how
are you, Mama Franklin?
Uh-huh, Amber.Hi.
How are you, baby? I am well, thank you.
Good, and this is?
Mama Franklin, this here
is my friend Jacob Sinclair,
he is a producer.
Oh.
Nice to meet you,
Mr. Sinclair.
Pleasure, pleasure,
the pleasure's mine.
So you're the pastor? Yes, I am.
Well, I must say, there's
nothing that quite compares
to a strong black woman.
My, my, my.
Words of honey.
Sound kind of familiar.
Have we met before?
You know, I get
that all the time.
Speaking of time, I am running
late for an appointment.
Uh-huh, all right.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Please, allow me to
sow into your ministry.
Hmm, Mr. Sinclair.
I believe you made
a huge mistake, honey.
You have too many zeroes
on this check.
This check is for $5,000.
I really, really, really...
I can't accept it.
Thank you so much, though. Yes, please.
No, no, no, now. Please, yes.
Consider it my seed.
Emily.[EMILY]
Yes?
I see great things
in your future.
The Bible says
your gift shall
bring you before great men.
That's right.
The world needs to hear your
voice, Emily,
and I can make that happen.
Ladies.
See you, Jacob.
Bye!
Ow.
Bye.
Emily Rene?
Ma'am?
What are you doing, honey?
You meet me in my office.
We need to talk.
Yes, ma'am.
All right, baby.
Okay.
Amber.
Ooh, see you later,
Mama Franklin.
Mm-hmm.
You look good, girl.
All right.
See, see, see?
He is loaded!
I told you, girl, woo!
Okay, wait a minute,
wait a minute.
This is the best part, girl.
He got that bread! He got that bread!
Okay.
Yes!
Okay, let me calm down
for one second.
Oh, my goodness.
Guess what, guess what? What, what?
He wants me, you and Kaleta
to come to his club
tonight for an audition.
I already called Kaleta,
she said yes,
it's just a matter
of you saying yes.
I'm so excited,
another audition.
Oh, my God, yes! Oh, my goodness.
The two of you
are gonna kill it!
What do you mean when you say,
"The two of you
are gonna kill it"?
We're all gonna go, 'cause
that's what we always do,
we always go... No, no, no, no.
You and Kaleta should go,
you could do like
a "Salt-n-Pepa's here" kinda
thing, you know what I mean?
No, we're all gonna go.
Really, okay, you're doing it
again, you know what?
Forget you!
Damn, I'm so sick of begging
you, I don't know what to do.
I'm not gonna beg you... Amber, would you stop...
Would you stop cussing
in the sanctuary?
I'm sorry.
Dang.
Come on.
How many...
how many times, Amber?
How many rehearsals, auditions,
how many producers and clubs...
Okay, all right, okay, I hear
you, I hear you, Emily, I do.
But do you really think
I would have come here if it
wasn't different this time? Wasn't different this time?
Okay, you got me, you got me.
But, Emily, all I'm saying is,
we can't give up on our dreams.
Come on.
We've been singing together
since we were little girls
and you know our
voices together is magic, baby.
And Kaleta and I can't do this
without you, we need you, Em!
Okay, please, I'm begging you.
Can we try just one more time,
one more time?
Okay, and I'll make a deal with
you right here in the church.
If it doesn't work this time,
that's it,
I'll never ask you again.
I'm for real.
Come on, Em.
Please say yes.
Please say yes.
Oh, don't do
the Elmo thing, okay?
Yeah, okay, all right.
You said yes?
Yes.
Ahh, oh, my God, okay!
Ahh, okay!
Shh!
Emily...
Oh, my God! I'll be there, I'll be there.
Don't be late, don't be late. What time?
Okay, um, 8:00.
8:00.
Okay. And bring those shoes.
I'll bring the shoes. What are they called?
Mana... Manamana...
Work on that.
Okay, okay.
Love you, girl.
Love you more.
Go, your mama
gonna get you, hurry!
Oh, my God! Okay, I'll see you tonight!
Smooth
Hot
Sexy
Did you order the champagne?
Good.
Did you cook this food?
Oh, no, girl, you are through.
Did you pick out that boa?
Ah-ah-ah-ah.
That ain't how we roll.
See...
this is The Sapphire Club...
not The Brass Monkey, love.
Welcome to The Sapphire
We can make you
feel higher
This is where
the stars are made
And they all are
handsomely paid
Yeah
Come live your fantasy
Baby come live
your wildest dreams
Delicious is what we do
When the main course
is you
So
Welcome
To The Sapphire Club
And by the way, ladies,
you're late.
We've been waiting for you!
Yes, all of you.
Good job, girls, good job.
You look beautiful, ladies. Thank you.
We've been waiting.
Well, well, let's go,
show us something.
Okay, okay.
I remember.
From the first
day we met
I knew you
were the one
You took me
by the hand
We walked
under the sun
Ooh boy I love you so
Ooh boy
don't ever go
Your love's so good
to me
To me
[JACOB]
Stop, stop, stop.
We rocked that. Yes, we did.
Darlings.
Yes!
I'll handle this.
Ladies.
Yes?
You weren't very good.
Don't call us, we'll call you.
[JACOB]
Cat. Yes, darling?
Fix it.
Stop right there.
Come on back.
We're gonna fix it. Really?
Yes, we're gonna fix it.
We're gonna take...
give you some new clothes,
teach you some new steps...
Here we go.
Here we go, darling.
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
I see you
looking at my body
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
Come a little closer
won't tell nobody
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
The way you touch me
makes me hot
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
Boy don't stop
Make you moan
into the night
Rock you 'til the morning
light
Don't stop
'til I get it right
Boy I know you want my body
Make you
wanna do me right
Rock until the morning
light
Don't stop
'til we get it right
Boy I know you
want my body
Oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey, hey
Well done. Did we do it?
Well done.
Very nice, ladies,
very, very nice.
Thank you.
Excuse me, but don't I always
give you exactly what you want?
Yes, Cat, you certainly do.
My goodness.
Yeah.
Cat...
No.
It's always the same thing.
Cat...
Excuse me.
Why was he hugging her
like that, huh?
They...
they probably related.
No, you ain't
related, hugging like that.
Cousins don't hug like that.
Amber, don't mess it up... I ain't gonna mess it up.
I wanna ask one simple
little question.
Jacob, I need to talk to you.
I got this, mm-hmm.
Excuse me?
You act like
you hard of hearing.
I said I need to talk to you
like right now.
What you got to say to me?
[EMILY]
Kaleta!
Kaleta!
I told you... I wanna see
what's going on.
Um...
Um, Jacob?
Who was that,
was that your woman?
'Cause you... you never said
you had a woman.
You never asked.
Secondly, it's none
of your damn business.
So, um...
help me understand
something, Jacob.
What were
the late nights together,
the shopping sprees,
the dinners,
all of that, was that...
was that all a lie?
A lie, Amber?
Now, less than a month ago,
I found you at a bus stop
with $5 in your pocket.
I told you I would expose
you to the finer things in life
and I did that.
I took you to places you had
only dreamed about
and dressed you in designers
you couldn't even pronounce,
and now I am giving you
the opportunity of a lifetime.
So tell me, in all of that,
where is the lie?
That's what I thought.
Now... please
remember, Amber.
You can always go back
to the bus stop.
We have work to do,
people, this is gonna be huge!
Yo, I wanna do something
different with the wardrobe.
I'm thinking Versace.
- J.R.!
- [J.R.] Yes, boss.
Do something with the hair.
Wendy... Wendy![WENDY]
Yes.
Get with Kaleta on
her dance moves... focus.
Work with Amber on her
vocal range and order posters,
lots of posters.
Excuse me, Mr. Jacob,
but what do you want me to do?
You?
Yes.
You just keep singing.
[MAN]
Just keep singing, baby.
Keep singing.
[EMILY] Jacob's words
took me back to when my dad
was the pastor of our church.
I used to love when he would
bring me up to sing with him.
He made me feel so special,
like I could do anything.
Nobody could sing like my daddy.
Now, baby, I brought you
in here this morning with me
because, first of all,
I want to tell you
how beautiful you are today.
Your mother did
your hair very, very nice.
Thank you.
Got your nice
dress on and everything.
And little earrings is blinding
me in my eyes and stuff.
It's all right.
But you look very,
very beautiful.
But I brought you in here
with me this morning
because I want you to
sing with me in service.
Is that all right, huh?
You wanna... you willing to let
the Lord use you this morning?
Yes.
All right, good.
Well, I thought
we might practice
before we go into the sanctuary.
Is that okay?
Okay.
Let's see if you
can do what I do.
Mm-hmm.
All right, you ready? Yes.
Here's the first one.
Oh
Whoa
All right, that was nice.
I got another one, here we go.
Whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa
That was nice, that was cute.
All right, this next one,
I used to do back in the day.
In my R&B days,
I used to sing with this
R&B group called Not Yet.
Mm-hmm.
We had not quite got there,
all right?
[LAUGHING]
Anyway...
these notes I'm about to hit,
you ain't never gonna hear 'em
again, 'cause I made 'em up.
All right, here we go.
Whoa-ooh
Watch out now.
Whoa-ooh-whoa...
You make me sick.
Girl, where you get that from?
That's nice, girl,
that's all right.
It sound good.
Almost like me.
That's good.
Now you did that kind of easy,
but let me tell you something.
In life, everything's not
that easy.
But I'll tell you what,
if you trust in the Lord
with all your heart,
lean not to your
own understanding
but in all your ways
acknowledge Jesus,
I guarantee you,
he will direct your path.
You believe that today? Yes.
Huh, you believe that?
I feel my... Hey!
Watch out there now.
I got something I wanna
share with you.
There is a name
I
Love to hear
Woo!
I love
I love to sing
His word
Oh it's like music
It's like music
it's like music
Woo!
To my ears baby
That was a little flashback
right there.
It's the sweetest name
It's the sweetest name
Lord it's the sweetest
It's the sweetest
It's the sweetest name
Now this right here is
quartet, all right?
I know
Woo!
Come on, somebody!
Whoa
How I love Jesus
Come on, sweetheart.
Oh
How I love Jesus
Whoo!
Oh
How I love Jesus
Because
He first
He loved me
Let him use you, baby!
Come on, somebody!
Woo!
He's
So wonderful
To me
He is
So wonderful
To me
He is
So wonderful
Because he first
loved me
Oh yeah
Because he...
Reverend Franklin. What?
So what do you have to say
about these charges of
child support
that's against you?
What, against me?
Man, what are you talking about?
Get that camera out...
Get that thing out of my face,
get that camera up out of here.
Lamar, what is he talking about?
I don't know.
Child support?
I'll find it...
Get that camera out
of here, get...
So your wife doesn't know.
So, Mrs. Franklin, are you
saying that you did not know
that your husband owes $70,000
in back child support
to the state?
[WOMAN]
$70,000, oh, hell no.$70,000!
I know you ain't talking
about my pastor.
I got you, brother, don't
worry about it, I got you.
All right. I got you.
It's all right,
I'll take care of it.
Your pastor.
And he has one on the way.
[MAN]
Oh, Lord.
Look, Lamar...
I can't have this anymore.
I'm sick and tired of your lies.
[WOMAN]
What are you talking...
Baby, I love you.
I'm only with her for
appearances.
Oh, wait a minute, whoa...
Just give me a little
more time, baby.
Oh, my God. Well, you know what,
Lamar?
Your time is up
and only thing I want from you
is to pay for your child.
What are you talking...
Excuse me, I don't know
what she's talking about.
Obviously, this is some
sort of setup.
Get that camera
out of here, boy.
All I know is if she's
getting hers,
oh, baby, I want mine.
[WOMAN]
Wait a minute!
Wait a minute, whoa, whoa!
Calm down, calm down!
Take care... calm down.
I don't know...
calm down.
Well, Reverend Franklin...
so...
how do you plan to pay
for this all?
Maybe take up a collection?
Okay, Deacon, get this
young man out of here,
get him out of here.
Get that...
get that mic out of my face.
Get him out of here.
Yes, sir.
Lamar Franklin,
you're under arrest.
For what?
Daddy!
Daddy, no, please! Wait a minute!
Please leave my daddy alone! Wait, wait, wait.
Baby, baby, baby.
I'll be back, all right?
I'll take care of this,
I'll be back.
But, Daddy, we didn't get
a chance to finish our song.
You keep singing, you hear me?
You keep singing. All right, come on,
let's go!
[WOMAN] You better
get my money, Lamar.
You have the right to
remain silent.
I ain't said nothing. I want my money, Lamar.
[MAN]
Okay. Get out of here.
Where are they taking him? To jail.
This is Dick Dickerson from
Channel 27 Impact News.
Back to you, Diane.
Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.
Shame on you.
That day changed our
lives forever.
God, I miss my father.
Absolutely.
I never accept anything less
than perfection.
Well, I'll look into that and
send you over the particulars.
Well, just know if you're not
happy, I'm not happy.
We'll speak soon.
All right.
Hey, Jacob.
What you working on? Huh?
I bet you could
use a little break.
Uh-huh.
You know what they say
about all work and no play.
Uh-huh.
Oh, honey, you smell so good.
Cat.
Yes?
Did you get Emily's
measurements?
What did you say?
I said, did you get...
I heard you
the first time, Jacob,
and I swear, if I hear you
mention that girl's name
one more time,
I'm gonna slit my wrists.
Are you serious?
No, the question is,
are you serious?
I'm not blind,
Jacob, and I'm not crazy.
I see the way you look at her.
It's the same way
you used to look at me.
You're out of control, Cat. I am not out of control.
Do you understand what I have
sacrificed to be with you?
Do you?
And, Jacob,
I've given up everything.
Everything... my friends...
my family, my life.
And I've done things for you
that I would never
do for another
human being on this planet.
I have put my life in jeopardy
for you, Jacob.
I have been there.
It was me.
I have been there, right there,
by your side through things
that would have
destroyed any other woman
and you know it.
You know it, you know it,
you know it.
You wanna know what?
I would do it all again.
I would, I...
I would do it over and over
again because I love you.
I love you, Jacob.
It's me, I love you.
Do you understand?
Just listen to me,
it's me, honey.
Nobody's gonna ever love you...
Look, you need to pull
yourself together.
Now, baby, I've told you,
love can be a detrimental
distraction.
How could you have
possibly forgotten the rules
of the game, Cat,
when I made you?
Need I remind you...
who makes
the impossible possible?
I do. Please don't do that.
Who makes people say yes
when everything in them
wants to say no?
I do.
Stop it.
Oh, God!
And who has the power of life
and death in his tongue?
Jacob, you're hurting me. Open your damn mouth.
No, you do, you do.
Absolutely right, Cat,
and you'd do well to never,
ever forget it.
Now, I'm gonna ask you again.
Did you get Emily's
measurements?
No.
But I'll take care of it
right away.
[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
Oh, Jacob, that is so beautiful.
What does it mean?
"The measure of your love
is only equal to
that of your loyalty."
Yeah
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
[WOMAN]
Shante, what's up, girl?
There she go.
Shante.
Shante, you ready
to get this money?
Shan... Why she acting like
she don't hear nobody?
You acting all... What?
Dang!
What happened to your eye?
Girl, what happened
to your eye this time?
Look, y'all know
I'm clumsy, okay?
I bumped into a door.
God.
Girl, about... what?
Bump into a door?
This what happened
last time, right?
I fell down
some steps on my eyeball.
[LAUGHING]
Very funny, but this ain't
none of y'all business.
Y'all need to mind
y'all business, okay?
Uh-uh, uh-uh, huh-uh,
look here, one-eye.
All I'm saying is I know what
I'd do if that was me.
Shoot, I ain't got
this CCW for nothing, girl.
"Blaow!"
In your face!
[MOCK LAUGHING]
Okay, Miss CCW,
so I guess you got
all your little tricks
lined up, huh?
And there you go hating.
Whatever.
Mystical, you know that fine
Jamaican of yours, girl?
Oh, now hold on, hold on.
Boop, boop, boop.
Uh-huh, girl.
He had you up in VIP and he was
making it rain 20s on you.
Yeah. Get your girl.
There she go hating again. She ain't hating.
He has a new girl in VIP.
That girl's planning
to steal your money.
Uh-uh.
Who is you talking about?
The new girl, Miss Passion.Yep.
Passion. What you gonna do about that?
Yeah, Miss CCW, what you
gonna do about that?
$100 right here.
Yep.
Yep, hundreds.
150,000.
Uh-uh-uh, if I didn't know you
better, I could tell you.
Move, Cyclops!
[AMBER]
We are taking you to see...
Beyonc! Beyonc!
[ALL SHOUTING]
Oh, my gosh...
I know!
I'm sayin', Passion!
She act like she don't hear me.
I said, Passion. What?
I need to holler at you, baby.
For what? "For what?"
- 'Cause you owe me some money.
- Girl, I don't owe you nothing.
Don't be coming up
in here talking...
All right, y'all better get her,
you know I'm on probation.
That's what I'm talking about.
Listen, I think there's some
kind of misunderstanding,
'cause she's...
There ain't no misunderstanding.
Back on back, fake... Man, get her, man.
No, I got this, 'cause
you ain't running nothing.
What do you want?
Don't be acting brand-new.
I heard you had one of my
regulars up in VIP,
so I'm gonna
need the bread, rookie.
Okay, I'm gonna tell you
like this.
It ain't my job to
keep tabs on your regulars.
That's your job.
And for the record, sweetie,
he asked me.
Oh, what you think, you cute?
You hood, you hard like that?
I'm talking about all up
in my face with that
yin, that yang, that...
[SPEAKING GIBBERISH]
How about this?
I don't hear none of that, huh?
What?
This is what I know.
You owe me some money, so you
need to be forking that over.
Okay, and this is what I know.
Huh, hmm, huh?
Hear this. Whatever, whatever.
I don't owe you jack! Oh, for real, for real?
So you better get
the hell up out my face!
[ALL YELLING]
She owe me!
What, what?
[ALL SHOUTING]
It don't even matter.
You know, you know.
I don't have time for that,
you understand.
She put her hands on me, right?
Oh, okay.
So you know it's
about to go down, right?
[ALL SHOUTING]
Don't put your
hands on me, girl!
Never put your hands on me!
[GRUNTING]
Stop it!
Stop it, Amber!
Call security!
[SCREAMING]
Stop, stop!
[SCREAMING]
Stop it, Amber!
[ALL SHOUTING]
[SCREAMING]
Amber, stop it!
[SCREAMING]
Don't you ever
put your hands on me!
Amber, stop! Get off of me!
What?
[ALL SHOUTING]
[AMBER]
Please come back!
That's right!
Get off of me!
What the hell, Amber,
what are you doing?
And who is Passion?
It's my stage name.
We don't have stage names,
what do you need that for?
Okay, you know what?
Y'all may be cool with getting
this little bit of money
that we getting from
singing, but I need more!
Amber, you're not answering
the question.
What do you want to know?
What are you doing? What are you doing?
Oh, okay then.
So y'all really wanna know,
church girls?
It's real simple.
There's a whole lot more to
The Sapphire than meets the eye,
'cause, baby, when
that clock strikes 12:00...
that's when all hell
breaks loose
and that's when
that real money can be made.
Wait...
Real money doing what?
Stripping.
What? What'd you say?
Stripping, you heard me.
I'm here every night,
getting buck naked,
taking off all
my clothes for these men.
Amber! What?
Come on, y'all.
I mean, how many conversations
are we gonna sit around
and have about
we tired of struggling.
Somebody tell me that, huh?
All right, let me ask you
a question, baby girl.
Kaleta.
I mean, how many jobs
are you gonna
juggle back and forth
trying to pay for school, huh?
That has nothing to do with...
It has everything to do
with what you're doing.
It does not justify1
what you're doing, Amber.
Okay, so what about you? What about me, then?
Oh, you mean to tell me
you're cool with staying
at your mama crib?
Definitely, if I can
keep my clothes on.
Letting your
mama pay your bills.
You out of your...
Man, shut up,
talking to me right now!
I ain't trying to hear
nothing you got to say!
Shut all that down!
I saw an opportunity
to make some money
and I took advantage of it.
And I'm gonna
tell y'all like this.
Baby, these men...
Baby, these men love me.Amber.
And when they pay me,
they pays me well.
Amber, what...
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
What?
You know what?
That's real good.
Now run my money!
[EMILY]
Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow
of death...
I was staring down the barrel
of a gun and I was so scared.
I thought they
were gonna kill us.
What have we gotten
ourselves into?
How could Amber put us
in a situation like this?
Father, God, please,
if you just let...
Just let us get
out of this one, I promise,
I promise, just get us
out of this.
Just get us out.
[AMBER]
Just move out the way, move!
Move out the way.
Stop yelling at me, I didn't
do this to you, okay?
And Kaleta, oh, my gosh,
you cannot just stand there
when something
like that is going on.
If you see a gun, dial 9...
Kaleta?
She came, right?
Wow.
What are you doing?
Emily, none of this
is making any sense.
I mean, strippers and guns.
I can't do this.
This is not what... Calm down, calm down.
Calm down, all right?
I already talked to Jacob
and he said the situation
with Mystical is under control.
We don't have anything
to worry about.
Okay, Amber,
that's what he said,
but what about all this crazy
stuff going on at The Sapphire?
Kaleta, you ain't gotta do
nothing you don't want to do.
I know that, but I don't want
you to be doing it, either.
Please stop
yelling at each other.
Okay, sorry. All right.
I'm sorry y'all
had to find out this way,
but I'm so glad it's
out in the open.
You're stripping.
How do you even get started
doing something like that?
Man, it ain't even that deep.
Do you hear you? Yeah, I hear me.
Dang.
Cat pulled me
to the side one night,
told me there was an opportunity
for me to make some more money
so she set me up on a test run.
A test run for stripping?
Yeah, yeah, you know, you just
walk in the club, grab a pole.
You ain't
scared of nothing, huh?
Would y'all come on?
Be realistic, please.
Of course I was scared.
But I had a few drinks,
I loosened up
and I was able to do my thing
and I'm gonna keep it 100
with you right now.
It felt good.
I mean, to be honest with you,
it was the biggest rush I have
ever had in my life!
Am I the only person that
sees something wrong with this?
All right, all right,
Kaleta, I admit,
this ain't for
everybody, baby girl, it's not.
But the money?
The money is ridiculous.
I mean, on a good night,
I make like $1,000.
That's $1,000.That's $1,000 right there.
But on a real good night,
oh, the money is bananas.
Now y'all tell me where else I'm
gonna find this kind of money.
Yeah, especially without a GED.
Kaleta.
What?
She doesn't have one!
She doesn't.
Move. Shut up.
Sorry.
She doesn't have one.
Okay, you're telling me
you make $1,000 a night?
Yes, every night,
and sometimes
it's more than that, Em.
That explains the Manolos.
And the Gucci
and the Prada
and the Cadillac Escalade
sitting on 22s that
I'm picking up today.
Holler at your girl!
Come on, y'all.
I look at it like this.
I've been giving it up
to these dudes
all these years
only to be cheated on
and have my heart broken.
Well, from now on,
only thing about me
that's gonna ever be
broke is my heart.
Okay, Am... Pass...
Whatever your name is. Oh, God.
What is up with
this whole VIP thing?
Oh, okay, VIP is where
the fellas go to spend
a little personal time with
one of us girls, you feel me?
No.
No.
Man, it's real simple.
Tricks come in, they pay
like $40 to the house,
some of 'em wanna
get a little dance,
some of 'em wanna get
a little feel.
Some of 'em want
a little but more than that.
It all just depends on how far
a girl is willing to go.
Whoa, whoa,
hey, wait, wait, wait.
You're saying when they go up to
that little room, that's the...
So they...
No.
Yes, yes!
No, listen, y'all,
anything goes up in there.
Hear me out.
Okay, look, some of them fools
that come up in there,
they married, all they
want is a little excitement.
Every now and then you're gonna
sit down with a weirdo,
he just wants some conversation.
Oh, yeah.
But most of them jokers...
Baby, most of them
jokers is trying to
get what's in between them legs.
Oh, not mine, Jesus.Uh-huh.
Close your legs, what you doing?
Oh, yeah.
And they getting it, too.
Anywhere from $20 and up.$20?
$20.
And let me tell you
something else about VIP.
You gotta watch
your back, right?
'Cause undercover
be coming up in there,
putting them girls in handcuffs,
they be walking out, I be like,
"Damn, you busted..." Wait, wait, wait, wait...
Yo, yo, yo, yo, you be up
with the $20 crew?
Girl, no,
I don't do all of that.
I go in, I do my dance
and I bounce.
Get my money, that's all I do.
Whatever.
So basically what you're saying
is you all are hookers.
Really? No, no, no, no, no, no...
Did you just call me a hooker?
No, but that's what it is. We been friends
for how long?
You get money... Remember when
that little boy
took your stuff around
the playground?
[ALL YELLING]
Stop it!
Ren, Stimpy, go in the corner.
Don't tell me to go in
the corner, she's a hooker.
I ain't no hooker. You a hooker.
No, I ain't no hooker. Yes, you are.
Shut up! Shut up!
Dang.
I can't do this.
Okay, look. You're stressing me out.
Okay, listen.
Emily, please, if you
give me a couple minutes,
I'll explain it to you, please.
Break it down
like I'm a toddler.
Okay, listen, it's real simple.
I go in, I throw the house
$10, right?
I give the bouncer
a little something
so he can play
my favorite music for me.
I give Cat, the house mother,
a little something-something,
but the rest of
that bread, baby girl,
the rest of that bread
is all mine.
All of it.
And it sure beats the hell out
of working at some damn Subway
like Kaleta stuck over here
in this corner.
Yeah, and they only
get $5 for they foot-longs.
See what I'm saying? Kaleta!
What?
Really?
It's true!
But it's true, Emily.
Oh.
Okay.
All right, listen,
I got one more question.
What? Just a minute.
Y'all wearing me out
with the questions.
Please. What?
Will you talk some sense
into her, please.
Hush, foot-long.
What does it...
feel like
when you're up on the stage?
Girl, you're not supposed to ask
her what it feels like, Emily.
Baby...
it's like a feeling
that I ain't never,
ever felt in my life.
You hot? Uh-huh.
I mean, it's the ultimate,
ultimate fantasy.
Ooh.
'Cause when I'm on that stage,
I feel like I'm making love
to every man in that audience.
Ooh, Papi.
Ooh, Mommy.
There's my mommy.
Hey!
Ooh, ooh, ooh!
Praise the Lord, Pastor.
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah.
Yes, ma'am.
What's going on in here?
We just sitting here, talking
about Jesus, as usual.
There's your gym bag,
Mama, and I'll be back.
All right, sugar,
all right, all right.
Hi, Gammy.
Hey...
Hi, Grandma.
How y'all doing?
[AMBER] We doing all
right, look at you, Grandma.
You look so cute in your
peach little jogging suit.
Girl, I'm trying to get
this body together
for the summer, baby. I know, that's right.
Well, you know what, Grandma?
We were on our way out.
I'll call you, okay?
I gotta take Kaleta to work,
I gotta make a couple runs.
Wait a minute.
No, but you... you really ain't
got to go nowhere now.
But we don't want to
be in the way, Grandma.
Baby, you're not in the way,
just make sure she gone.
Just make sure...
She's gone, I think. Yeah, she gone, she gone.
How y'all been doing? Good.
Now you know
I've been going down
to the YMCA for my
aerobics class.
All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we getting ready for
a "golden girls" competition.
Okay.
Now I know y'all can let me know
how I look and, you know,
you'll give me some pointers,
so I want y'all
to let me know, okay?
Okay. Now wait a minute,
hold up.
Now just get this "ePod."
Grandma, it's iPod, it's... Don't correct me, baby.
All right.
And put it on record 12.Track...
Now I want y'all to... She still...
Shut up.
All right, now I want you to
come over here with me,
'cause you look like you know...
No, no, no, next time, okay?
You go over and sit down.
[MAN]
Still grindin'
All right, we gotta warm up
first, okay?
We got to stretch.Okay.
Don't try to take my stuff.
And down and up.
And down and up.
All right, one more time.
Wait a minute, I'm not gonna
be doing all that.
She didn't tell you to do that.
All right.
Still grindin'
Go, Grandma!
Hey!
Now they told me
to do that first.
Okay, warm it up first.
I'm just gonna warm it up.
Oh.
Bounce with it.
Gotta bounce with it.Okay.
Hey!
Keep bouncing.
I can do it, I can do that.
Woo!
Hey, hey!
That's good, Grandma.
Hey! I can do that!
Yeah, I like that!
This right here,
you gotta do this.
That's right, watch this.
This way and that way.Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Hey!
Go, Grandma! I like that.
This way.
Hey!
Circle.
Oh!
Girl!
Ahh... hey!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Where she at?
Oh, Jesus, right now!
[ALL YELLING]
Hallelujah!
Woo!
Whoo!
Whoo.
Whoo!
Um...
Whoo!
Whoo, whoo!
Whoo...
Just give us a sec.
Um...
Whoo, whoo, whoo...
It didn't work, did it? No.
Oh, and I'm tired.
Oh, Jesus.
I can't shout like I used to.
I used to be able to pick 'em
up and put 'em down.
Used to... Get up.
Get up, Amber. Now y'all got to pick me up.
You'll get us
in trouble, get up.
Okay, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. Come on.
Hallelujah!
Stop.
Stop shaking.
Ooh, Jesus.
Amber.
Huh?
Amber Denise, what in the world
are you doing in my kitchen?
What are y'all doing?
We was in here with Grandma
and we was
having a prayer service
and the Holy Ghost just...
"flam!"
Mm-hmm.
Something fell,
but it wasn't holy.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Pull your pants up.
We were actually on our way out.
Kaleta, wait a minute, honey.Yes.
Where you going?
We... she's
gonna take me to work?
You coming to church Sunday?
Yes, I'm gonna
see you on Sunday.
You gonna be in the choir stand?
Yes, and I'm bringing Amber
with me on Sunday.
Hey!
Oh.
Speak for me?
I got a mouth.
I can speak for myself.
I don't need you to say nothing
for me, okay?
What about that, Amber?
Mama!
Now you know
I ain't gonna lie to you.
You too close to Jesus.
I tell you a lie,
He strike me down.
Not a good look, is it?
So I'm gonna see what I can do.
All right now.
Woo!
Kaleta, you bring that thing
with you.
[KALETA]
I will, I will. And be on time.
Okay.
That Amber is a mess.
Whoo.
She ain't gonna never change. You don't know the half, Mom.
And what's going on
with my mama?
Why y'all have
my mama bent over like that?
I had nothing...
She's the mother of our church.
And God has blessed her
with many a gift
and talent, apparently.Oh...
No?
No.
Okay.
Okay.
This is for you, though, baby.
That's what you asked me for. My computer.
Thank you, Mommy, thank you!
Thank you.
Yeah.
Now, let me ask you this, baby.
Where were you the other night?
There was choir rehearsal.
We missed you.
What's going on?
I was...
I'm sorry, I forgot.
I had to work a double
at the hospital.
All right, baby.
You had to work a double shift
at the hospital, huh?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay.
You had to work a double shift
at the hospital,
but you told me
you were part-time?
Mm-hmm.
I'm waiting.Yep.
So...
you part-time, but you're
working a double shift.
Working full-time,
but you part-time.
Now would you please explain to
me how you gonna do all that
with your full load of
classes in the fall, Emily?
Actually, I wanted to talk
to you about that.
I was thinking maybe
I would take one semester off.
Ooh, no, ma'am, no, ma'am.
Okay, just one, Ma.
No, ma'am.
No, no, no, no, no.
You have one more
semester before you
finish nursing school. I know.
Okay, and I unders... You've got to finish, baby.
I need to see that name,
honey...
Mom, would you
just listen to the plan...
... on that Howard University
diploma.
I have some other dreams here,
you know, and if I don't
go after them now,
I may never get another chance.
But, baby, you have
all that time.
No, I don't have a lot of time.
Yes... Would you just listen to me
for a second about what
I really want?
You've got to finish school.
Mama wants to
see your name on that...
Mom, I'm not saying
I won't go back, okay?
It's just... not everything fits
into a neat little plan
like you think it does.
I really wanna go after this. But, baby...
Mama has made sacrifices.
I have scrimped and saved. Mom, okay.
I'll pay you back. I spent all my extra money.
I'll pay you back.
Emily, I spent every extra dime
on your classes,
your books, your materials.
Nursing is expensive. Are you even...
Would you listen to
what I want to do, please?
I made plans.
I have planned for your success.
I want you to do better
than I did.
Mom...
Mama's trying to make you do
better than I did.
You're trying to make me do... My plans are for you, baby.
And that's the problem.
Mama, what are you
talking about?
What do you mean?
You know exactly what I mean.
No, I don't know what you mean.
Now, I didn't want to
get involved, but listen.
Now, baby, I know you've been
doing everything for everybody,
all your life.
I know this because you
take care of me, I know this.
But the only problem is
with this situation.
You cannot
plan that baby's life.
Mama... Have you ever... Uh-uh.
Have you ever asked her one time
what does she wanna really do?
No.I did not pick nursing.
You are not hearing anything
I... Mom, this is my life.
I'm listening to you. This is my life!
It's mine,
I have to live it my way.
All right, all right, okay.
Lord have mercy...
That's a lot of grown-folk
talk for somebody
living under my roof. Living under my roof.
No, don't... don't...
don't mock me, girl.
No, ma'am, no, ma'am, no, ma'am.
Last time I checked, I pay all
the bills up in here.
All the bills in this house:
electric, gas, everything.
And I don't get
no help from nobody,
and as long as you're
in my house
and I'm making sacrifices,
Emily, that I can't afford,
you will abide by my rules.
I didn't break
any of your rules.
I promised you if you
stayed in school
and you went to church,
I would support you,
but now you're skipping school,
you don't come to church,
you ain't singing in choir
rehearsal.
I only missed
one choir rehearsal!
I don't know what's going on.
Uh-uh, you've missed more
than one choir rehearsal.
I don't know what's going on,
but I'm telling you,
if you got a change
of plans and you're so grown,
you wanna do it your way,
you're gonna do it your way,
in your own place.
Come on, now.
Come on.
Yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am,
I might just do that.
No, no. I didn't hear you.
What's you say? I said, I might
just do that.
Come on, let's pray, come on.
Oh, don't might do it, honey.
Mm-mmm, don't might do it.
Do it with all your might!
All right, Maya,
that's enough, that's enough!
No, Mama!
I'm not through talking to you!
You are not...
[ALL SHOUTING]
Let her go, Mama, let her go.
Oh, my God.
Bad decisions!
And disrespectful.
I never talked to
you like that, Mama.
You didn't allow it
and I finished school.
I'm not gonna have it
in my house.
Maybe I should have
done that differently
Yes I'm worried Mama
'Cause it
may come back to bite me
I didn't mean to push her
I really didn't mean to
make her leave
But what
can I do Mama
She's my only baby
And I want
the best for her
Oh yeah
Didn't mean to
leave that way
Jesus
Thought I'd stay at home
Until
my wedding day
But I'll be
all right
I'll be okay
It's gonna work out
Things are
gonna go my way
Lived my life for
everybody else
Now I'm going
to do it my way
Well Maya
Are you happy now?
Do you see
what you have done?
You both are so strong-willed
and stubborn
Can't imagine
where you get that from
Mmm, mmm, mmm
Whoo!
As for me and this
house Mama
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm the only one
As long as I live
Under my roof
Yeah, yeah, yeah
She's gonna do it
the way I want it
So
I must do it
I've got to do it
Gonna
do it my way
It's my way
No I won't
miss out
I've gotta do it
gonna do it my way
I need ya, need ya
It's my way
Gonna do it my way
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
Gonna
do it my way
Oh
If she wouldn't
be so spoiled Mama
I didn't want this to end
the fight
But I've got to
do what I think is right
Oh
My way
My way
You can't
do it your way
Mama that's my child She can do it her way
Mama that's my child
You gotta
do it your way
Yeah
She gotta hold on Oh Mama
Don't give up
don't give in
Hang on in there
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
She's my baby
I don't know, I don't know
I don't know
Oh I don't know
Look, it's pure and uncut.
I get it straight
from the Colombians.
But nobody can give you
a better deal, bro.
I have a shipment
coming in tonight.
My man.
Yeah.
All right, we'll talk later.
What do you know?
The two most powerful players in
the city are now joining forces.
Yeah.
I'm gonna put 'em on my team.
As soon as we get in good,
I'm gonna
take over his operation.
Hell yeah.
Things are coming together
just as I planned, baby.
Matter of fact,
they couldn't be better.
I got the whole damn city in
the palm of my hand.
What do you think, baby?
I think that there
is nothing sexier...
... than a black man
handling his business.
This is big, baby.
This will put us on top.
My favorite position. Listen to you.
You sure don't sound like my
same little innocent Emily.
I had an amazing teacher. That's true.
Come to bed,
I wanna show you something.
Not right now, baby,
I got work to do.
Not right now, baby.
Chill out,
stop being so damn thirsty.
I told you, we got a lot
of work to do.
So you wanna be down,
you wanna be on the team,
I need to know that you're
ready to prove it.
I need to know
that I can trust you, baby,
because if it's you and me,
it's you and me
against the world.
Jacob...
I will never, ever betray you.
Is that right?
That's right.
Okay.
But look here.
I need you to...
get close to him.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
Yeah, but, baby...
Ow!
There are no "buts" in life.
It's do or die.
Okay.
Now, I'm gonna ask you
again... nicely.
Baby, do you understand?
Yes, yes, I'll do whatever!
That's my angel.
I have incredible plans
for a life of no limits
by any means necessary,
and you can be
a part of that, baby.
You know, I've given it
a lot of thought
and I have decided that...
I don't want any of it.
Hey, hey, hey.
Come here.
Come here.
Acting like that.
Listen to me.
I don't want any of it
without you by my side.
Jacob, I love the sound of that.
Angel.
Yes, Jacob?
[SPEAKING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
My goodness,
that's so beautiful.
What does it mean?
"The measure of your love
is only equal to that
of your loyalty."
I can trust you, right? Of course.
I got something for you.
What?
It's gonna make you
feel real good.
Just...
Just take it.
Okay.
[SNIFFING]
Yeah.
[EMILY] I was fast becoming the
number-one girl at The Sapphire.
I was in love with the crowd
and they were in love
with me and I...
I loved Jacob.
Mmm.
I would do any and everything
to make my baby happy.
Jacob and I had some big plans,
but we would soon find out
that we weren't the only ones
making plans.
the lesson learned
All the things
that burn
I'll never
be the same
One truth still remains
When you
When you look at me
You can see
I'm a church girl
Every night
in the club
Still I'm a church girl
Don't try to
judge me
I'm still a church girl
It's a side of me
It's a side of me
When you look at me
You can see
I'm a church girl
Every night in
the club
Still I'm a church girl
Don't try to
judge me
I'm still
a church girl
It's a side of me
It's a side of me
I'm still
a church girl
Oh
I'm still
a church girl
I'm a church girl well
[GUN COCKING]
[GUNSHOTS FIRING]
[WOMAN]
May 28, 2008.
A day I will never forget.
It was crazy at
The Sapphire that night,
and, I mean, although the
police had been there
many times before, that night,
it was just...
it was different.
How did a preacher's daughter,
raised in
the church her entire life,
end up in a situation like this?
I mean, how did I get here?
My name...
is Emily Franklin
and this is my story.
Holy
Most holy
and everlasting Father
I'm blessed
By you
Father
I had enough
I had enough
We ask of you
Help your anointing
Father
Help your
anointing Father
On these
Young
Children
Lord we ask
that you cover
Let your angels
Walk beside
them Lord
Whoo
Oh Lord oh God
Beside them
Let the spirit
Walk up
beside them
Oh God, oh God
Let them spirits
all around them
Every
Every
Every
Every
Woo
Every day
Day
Oh
Oh Lord, Lord
Oh do it to them
We believe you in church
right now
In the name of Jesus
Whoa God
Ooh
I was 12 years old then.
God knows we loved to sing,
and that's exactly what we did.
We sang and we sang.
Some people came from
everywhere, all over,
just to hear my best friends,
Kaleta, Amber and me sing.
That's when we knew
we had a gift.
Mom always warned us that our
gift could either be a blessing
or a curse, and I didn't
understand it then,
but looking back on it,
I'm so glad my family
prayed for me.
For the Bible
Tells me so
Jesus loves me
This I know
For the Bible
Tells me so
It tells me so
Little ones
To him belong
They are weak
But He is strong
Yes
Jesus loves me
Oh yes
My Jesus, my Jesus
He loves me
Yes my Jesus
My God loves me
For the Bible
For the Bible
Bible tells me
So
So
Sunday morning at
Redeeming Love Church
where everybody is somebody
and Jesus is the reason why.
[LAUGHING]
I can still hear my auntie
and my mama praying over us
and God must have
heard 'em, too,
'cause Kaleta and I are
still singing in the choir
but, I mean, I wish I could say
the same for Amber.
Oh, oh.
That beautiful lady right there
is the honorable
Maya J. Franklin, our pastor.
That's my mama, y'all.
And hear me when I tell you,
nobody could preach
like my mama.
Have we had a good time
in church today?
[ALL]
Yes!
I feel the Holy Ghost
is here today.
[ALL]
Yes!
I feel the spirit in here
and while I feel
the spirit moving...
I want to challenge
you to be ready.
Keep on your minds
what we talked about today.
Be ready, be ready, be ready.
Don't get ready!
Be ready.
Because the Son of Man
is coming back
for a church
without spite or wrinkles.
I believe
Matthew 24 and 44 says,
"Therefore also be ready
because you know not the hour
that the Son of Man come."
And when you think
he's not coming, he's coming.
Look at the events in the world,
look at
the disasters in the world.
Deacon Sanders, will you
be ready?
Preachers, will you be ready?
Oh, God! Choir, will you be ready?
Yeah!
I know I wanna be ready
when He calls my name.
We'll be blessed at service
when the Lord finds us doing.
"Pastor Maya, what do you
mean by that?"
Well, I'm talking about
when he calls my name,
I'm gonna be found singing.
I'm gonna be found singing.
I'm gonna be found singing!
Oh bless the Lord.
Oh my soul.
I will continually have His
praises on my lips.
Oh, yes, Lord!
Can the church say yes? Yes!
Can the church say yes? Yes!
Be ready, be ready,
be ready, be ready, be ready!
Yeah, come on!
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
Come on and sing our own song.
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since you feel
with the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, yeah
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Oh since Jesus
came into your life?
One more time
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since you can feel
with the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, yeah
Hey y'all
Hey y'all
How you been doing?
How you been doing?
Since Jesus
Since He
saved your soul
Since Jesus
Since He
made you whole
Since Jesus
Since you've
been redeemed
Since Jesus
Since He
washed you clean
Since Jesus Oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh, oh Jesus
Since Jesus Oh, oh Jesus
Since Jesus Ohh
Since Jesus
came into your life
Yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, yeah
Hallelujah
Come on
and bless Him
Praise His name
Yeah
All right, Mama. Hallelujah!
I feel Jesus
Oh yes
I want to
ask you a question
Have you tried
Jesus?
He's all right
Have you
tried Jesus?
He's all right
Have you
tried Jesus?
He's all right
Oh try
Jesus yeah
He's all right
Yeah
he's all right
He's all right
All right, all right
all right
He's all right
[WOMAN]
Oh... oh
Save me...
Come on, Mama!
Far away
Yes!
Yes, go on, Mama.
I'm a soldier
In the army
of the Lord
I'm a soldier
In the army
I'm a soldier
In the army
of the Lord
I'm a soldier
In the army
I got my
war clothes on y'all
In the army of the Lord
Yeah I got my
war clothes on y'all
In the army
Oh Georgia yeah
In the army
of the Lord
I am, I am, I am
I am, I am
Hey
When I think about
Jesus
What He's done for me
Think about Jesus
How He
set me free
I can dance, dance, dance
dance, dance, dance, dance
All night All night
All night
When I think about Jesus
How He heals me
He picked me up
and turned me around
Put my feet on
the ground
Oh, oh, oh
All night All night
All night When I look back
All night Over my life
All night And I think about
All night What I've been through
I don't know what
I've been through
Hallelujah
[WOMAN]
I will
Bless the Lord
Have all
The time for Him
Oh continue, continue
continue, continue
Clap your hands
Come on praise the Lord
The Lord has been
good to you
You ought
to be thankful
You ought to be
grateful
He's been real good
He's been real good
He's been mighty good
Show
Oh
Yeah
Yeah
Oh yeah
Good God
Praise Him
Praise Him
Hallelujah
Praise Him
Hallelujah
You ought to
praise Him
Praise Him
for your life
Praise Him for
your health
Praise Him
for your strength
Praise Him 'cause
he's good
Praise Him because he's got
our cavalry
Praise Him
Raise your
hands and praise Him
Yeah
Hallelujah!
Oh, God, hug somebody and tell
him we're dismissed.
Clap your hands and
Lord I got to
praise you
Lord you
been real good
Didn't have to
love me
Didn't have to keep me
But you
did it anyway
You did it anyway
Oh thank you
That's why
I want to thank you
I gotta thank you hey
I gotta, gotta pray
Thank you goodbye so
Oh
Whoo
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
Hallelujah!
Glory to God!
All glory to God!
That's how we did it at
Redeeming Love every week,
singing and praising God.
I mean, it's...
it's... it's... it's funny.
Nine years ago, Kaleta, Amber
and I got our start singing
right here in this very church.
We just knew we were gonna be
the next big thing.
We called ourselves Promise.
Oh, but life took us in
different directions
and eventually,
we gave up on our dreams.
But little did we know
opportunity would soon
come knocking.
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Ooh, oh
How...
Now, see, I'm trying to
have a moment with the...
Amber? Yes.
Amber, Amber!
Oh, my God, look at you! Yes, honey, look at me.
You look... you look so...
Sweetie, you're fishing
for words.
I believe that the word
you're looking for
would be
something like, um, "fierce."
That would be it, from your
head down to your... your...
Yo.
Are those Manolo Blahnik? Girl, yeah.
These are Manama...
Manamana B...
Manolo Blahnik.
Girl, just what you said,
just what you said.
Ooh, and they bad, too. Thank you, girl.
Wait, wait, wait.
You went from
Payless to Manolos?
What you been doing, who you
been doing it with?
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
Okay, now, wait, you can't do
all that in the sanctuary.
No, girl, it's okay.
Woo! Hey, hey, get a hold of your...
Yeah!
'Cause when I think
of His goodness,
ooh, and all
that He has done for me...
My Jesus!
No, girl, my Jacob!
Ooh, ooh.
Stop it.
Amber, stop, stop it.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Did you just say Jacob?
Girl, yes, and he is fine!
Okay, where did you meet
Mr. Fine?
Girl, I was standing at
the bus stop one day, right?
And this big beautiful
blue shiny Bentley
pulled up on the side of me.
Honey, he rolled
down the window,
I look in, he looked at me,
told me I was fine enough
to be a model
and then he
asked me if I needed a ride.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Please tell me you
didn't get in the car.
Hell yeah, I got in,
he was ballin'!
Lola
You know it
Hey, hey, stop it.
Oh, sorry.
You cannot be
cussin' in the sanctuary.
Forgive me, Jesus.
Girl, yeah, I got in
and do you know, he took me to
dinner that night?
The same night? The same night.
Uh-uh, see, this ain't
making no sense.
Oh, Emily.
What?
Does love have to make sense?
You're in love?
Yes, girl, yes, I'm in love.
I love me some Jacob, girl.
He is so wonderful.
Okay, let me tell you
a little bit about him, okay?
Please, yeah.
He took me to the most
beautiful restaurant. The what?
The most beautiful restaurant. Oh, okay.
Girl, they had valet,
they had a ma...
ma... a ma... ma...
Matre d'?
Matre d'.
Yes, one of those.
Okay.
Oh, my goodness, girl, he has
his own private plane.
Girl, he flew us
to Miami, took me shopping
and we have been together
ever since.
Oh, my goodness,
he sounds amazing. He is.
Okay, so how long
have you known this guy?
I can't hear nothing
on this side.
Whole eardrum gone.
Gone.
Amber?
Huh?
How long have you
known this guy?
Girl!
Girl!
Yeah.
About a month.
A month.
That explains a lot, why
you haven't been to church,
Sunday school, choir rehearsal,
we had a bake sale...
See, that's why
I don't tell you nothing,
'cause you always judging me.
I'm not judging you,
I'm just saying we miss you
here at Redeeming Love.
Okay, and I miss
being at Redeeming Love.
Girl, come on.
There are so many memories
for us here.
Oh, my goodness,
me, you and Kaleta,
I can remember us growing up,
we were a mess, girl.
Yes.
A hot mess.
Sorry.
What was that song we would
break out into?
Oh, when Mama came?
The Clark Sisters! The Clark Sisters!
Yeah, but what was the song? "You Brought the Sunshine."
You brought the sunshine
Honey, I had to, 'cause if not,
your mama
would have beat your tail.
Oh, my goodness, those
were the days.
Those were the days!
Emily, when I walked in,
I heard you singing that song
that you and your dad used to
always sing.
"Oh How I Love Jesus.""Oh How I Love Jesus."
Emily, will you please sing
some more for me?
For you, no;
with you, sure.
Come on, Em.
I love to hear you sing. Come on now...
I have not heard your
tone in forever.
Okay, just a little snippet. I'll take what I can get.
Okay.
Okay.
Mi, mi, mi, mi, mi... You... you...
Hey, hey, stop. I was warming up.
Not like that you don't.Okay, sorry.
Oh
How I love
Jesus
Said oh
How I love
Jesus
[MAN]
Amen, amen.
[CLEARING THROAT]
Hey, baby.[MAN]
Sorry I'm late.
No, honey, actually,
you're right on time.
The voice of an angel, just like
I told you, right?
Come here.
Emily, this here is... Let me guess.
This must be Jacob. Stop!
Jacob, this is my very best
friend, Ms. Emily Rene...
Stop saying my middle name.
Franklin.
Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you.
Oh, no, baby.
The pleasure's all mine.
Okay.
My goodness, girl.
You've outdone yourself, baby.
I told you, baby.
Yes, yes.
Excuse me, sugar, you wanna
tell me what's going on?
Okay...
[MAYA] Yes, your mother
would like to know the answer
to that question.
[EMILY]
Hi, Mommy.
Hi, my baby, Emily.
[AMBER] Hey, how
are you, Mama Franklin?
Uh-huh, Amber.Hi.
How are you, baby? I am well, thank you.
Good, and this is?
Mama Franklin, this here
is my friend Jacob Sinclair,
he is a producer.
Oh.
Nice to meet you,
Mr. Sinclair.
Pleasure, pleasure,
the pleasure's mine.
So you're the pastor? Yes, I am.
Well, I must say, there's
nothing that quite compares
to a strong black woman.
My, my, my.
Words of honey.
Sound kind of familiar.
Have we met before?
You know, I get
that all the time.
Speaking of time, I am running
late for an appointment.
Uh-huh, all right.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Please, allow me to
sow into your ministry.
Hmm, Mr. Sinclair.
I believe you made
a huge mistake, honey.
You have too many zeroes
on this check.
This check is for $5,000.
I really, really, really...
I can't accept it.
Thank you so much, though. Yes, please.
No, no, no, now. Please, yes.
Consider it my seed.
Emily.[EMILY]
Yes?
I see great things
in your future.
The Bible says
your gift shall
bring you before great men.
That's right.
The world needs to hear your
voice, Emily,
and I can make that happen.
Ladies.
See you, Jacob.
Bye!
Ow.
Bye.
Emily Rene?
Ma'am?
What are you doing, honey?
You meet me in my office.
We need to talk.
Yes, ma'am.
All right, baby.
Okay.
Amber.
Ooh, see you later,
Mama Franklin.
Mm-hmm.
You look good, girl.
All right.
See, see, see?
He is loaded!
I told you, girl, woo!
Okay, wait a minute,
wait a minute.
This is the best part, girl.
He got that bread! He got that bread!
Okay.
Yes!
Okay, let me calm down
for one second.
Oh, my goodness.
Guess what, guess what? What, what?
He wants me, you and Kaleta
to come to his club
tonight for an audition.
I already called Kaleta,
she said yes,
it's just a matter
of you saying yes.
I'm so excited,
another audition.
Oh, my God, yes! Oh, my goodness.
The two of you
are gonna kill it!
What do you mean when you say,
"The two of you
are gonna kill it"?
We're all gonna go, 'cause
that's what we always do,
we always go... No, no, no, no.
You and Kaleta should go,
you could do like
a "Salt-n-Pepa's here" kinda
thing, you know what I mean?
No, we're all gonna go.
Really, okay, you're doing it
again, you know what?
Forget you!
Damn, I'm so sick of begging
you, I don't know what to do.
I'm not gonna beg you... Amber, would you stop...
Would you stop cussing
in the sanctuary?
I'm sorry.
Dang.
Come on.
How many...
how many times, Amber?
How many rehearsals, auditions,
how many producers and clubs...
Okay, all right, okay, I hear
you, I hear you, Emily, I do.
But do you really think
I would have come here if it
wasn't different this time? Wasn't different this time?
Okay, you got me, you got me.
But, Emily, all I'm saying is,
we can't give up on our dreams.
Come on.
We've been singing together
since we were little girls
and you know our
voices together is magic, baby.
And Kaleta and I can't do this
without you, we need you, Em!
Okay, please, I'm begging you.
Can we try just one more time,
one more time?
Okay, and I'll make a deal with
you right here in the church.
If it doesn't work this time,
that's it,
I'll never ask you again.
I'm for real.
Come on, Em.
Please say yes.
Please say yes.
Oh, don't do
the Elmo thing, okay?
Yeah, okay, all right.
You said yes?
Yes.
Ahh, oh, my God, okay!
Ahh, okay!
Shh!
Emily...
Oh, my God! I'll be there, I'll be there.
Don't be late, don't be late. What time?
Okay, um, 8:00.
8:00.
Okay. And bring those shoes.
I'll bring the shoes. What are they called?
Mana... Manamana...
Work on that.
Okay, okay.
Love you, girl.
Love you more.
Go, your mama
gonna get you, hurry!
Oh, my God! Okay, I'll see you tonight!
Smooth
Hot
Sexy
Did you order the champagne?
Good.
Did you cook this food?
Oh, no, girl, you are through.
Did you pick out that boa?
Ah-ah-ah-ah.
That ain't how we roll.
See...
this is The Sapphire Club...
not The Brass Monkey, love.
Welcome to The Sapphire
We can make you
feel higher
This is where
the stars are made
And they all are
handsomely paid
Yeah
Come live your fantasy
Baby come live
your wildest dreams
Delicious is what we do
When the main course
is you
So
Welcome
To The Sapphire Club
And by the way, ladies,
you're late.
We've been waiting for you!
Yes, all of you.
Good job, girls, good job.
You look beautiful, ladies. Thank you.
We've been waiting.
Well, well, let's go,
show us something.
Okay, okay.
I remember.
From the first
day we met
I knew you
were the one
You took me
by the hand
We walked
under the sun
Ooh boy I love you so
Ooh boy
don't ever go
Your love's so good
to me
To me
[JACOB]
Stop, stop, stop.
We rocked that. Yes, we did.
Darlings.
Yes!
I'll handle this.
Ladies.
Yes?
You weren't very good.
Don't call us, we'll call you.
[JACOB]
Cat. Yes, darling?
Fix it.
Stop right there.
Come on back.
We're gonna fix it. Really?
Yes, we're gonna fix it.
We're gonna take...
give you some new clothes,
teach you some new steps...
Here we go.
Here we go, darling.
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
I see you
looking at my body
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
Come a little closer
won't tell nobody
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
The way you touch me
makes me hot
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
Boy don't stop
Make you moan
into the night
Rock you 'til the morning
light
Don't stop
'til I get it right
Boy I know you want my body
Make you
wanna do me right
Rock until the morning
light
Don't stop
'til we get it right
Boy I know you
want my body
Oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey
Uh-oh
Hey, hey
Well done. Did we do it?
Well done.
Very nice, ladies,
very, very nice.
Thank you.
Excuse me, but don't I always
give you exactly what you want?
Yes, Cat, you certainly do.
My goodness.
Yeah.
Cat...
No.
It's always the same thing.
Cat...
Excuse me.
Why was he hugging her
like that, huh?
They...
they probably related.
No, you ain't
related, hugging like that.
Cousins don't hug like that.
Amber, don't mess it up... I ain't gonna mess it up.
I wanna ask one simple
little question.
Jacob, I need to talk to you.
I got this, mm-hmm.
Excuse me?
You act like
you hard of hearing.
I said I need to talk to you
like right now.
What you got to say to me?
[EMILY]
Kaleta!
Kaleta!
I told you... I wanna see
what's going on.
Um...
Um, Jacob?
Who was that,
was that your woman?
'Cause you... you never said
you had a woman.
You never asked.
Secondly, it's none
of your damn business.
So, um...
help me understand
something, Jacob.
What were
the late nights together,
the shopping sprees,
the dinners,
all of that, was that...
was that all a lie?
A lie, Amber?
Now, less than a month ago,
I found you at a bus stop
with $5 in your pocket.
I told you I would expose
you to the finer things in life
and I did that.
I took you to places you had
only dreamed about
and dressed you in designers
you couldn't even pronounce,
and now I am giving you
the opportunity of a lifetime.
So tell me, in all of that,
where is the lie?
That's what I thought.
Now... please
remember, Amber.
You can always go back
to the bus stop.
We have work to do,
people, this is gonna be huge!
Yo, I wanna do something
different with the wardrobe.
I'm thinking Versace.
- J.R.!
- [J.R.] Yes, boss.
Do something with the hair.
Wendy... Wendy![WENDY]
Yes.
Get with Kaleta on
her dance moves... focus.
Work with Amber on her
vocal range and order posters,
lots of posters.
Excuse me, Mr. Jacob,
but what do you want me to do?
You?
Yes.
You just keep singing.
[MAN]
Just keep singing, baby.
Keep singing.
[EMILY] Jacob's words
took me back to when my dad
was the pastor of our church.
I used to love when he would
bring me up to sing with him.
He made me feel so special,
like I could do anything.
Nobody could sing like my daddy.
Now, baby, I brought you
in here this morning with me
because, first of all,
I want to tell you
how beautiful you are today.
Your mother did
your hair very, very nice.
Thank you.
Got your nice
dress on and everything.
And little earrings is blinding
me in my eyes and stuff.
It's all right.
But you look very,
very beautiful.
But I brought you in here
with me this morning
because I want you to
sing with me in service.
Is that all right, huh?
You wanna... you willing to let
the Lord use you this morning?
Yes.
All right, good.
Well, I thought
we might practice
before we go into the sanctuary.
Is that okay?
Okay.
Let's see if you
can do what I do.
Mm-hmm.
All right, you ready? Yes.
Here's the first one.
Oh
Whoa
All right, that was nice.
I got another one, here we go.
Whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa
That was nice, that was cute.
All right, this next one,
I used to do back in the day.
In my R&B days,
I used to sing with this
R&B group called Not Yet.
Mm-hmm.
We had not quite got there,
all right?
[LAUGHING]
Anyway...
these notes I'm about to hit,
you ain't never gonna hear 'em
again, 'cause I made 'em up.
All right, here we go.
Whoa-ooh
Watch out now.
Whoa-ooh-whoa...
You make me sick.
Girl, where you get that from?
That's nice, girl,
that's all right.
It sound good.
Almost like me.
That's good.
Now you did that kind of easy,
but let me tell you something.
In life, everything's not
that easy.
But I'll tell you what,
if you trust in the Lord
with all your heart,
lean not to your
own understanding
but in all your ways
acknowledge Jesus,
I guarantee you,
he will direct your path.
You believe that today? Yes.
Huh, you believe that?
I feel my... Hey!
Watch out there now.
I got something I wanna
share with you.
There is a name
I
Love to hear
Woo!
I love
I love to sing
His word
Oh it's like music
It's like music
it's like music
Woo!
To my ears baby
That was a little flashback
right there.
It's the sweetest name
It's the sweetest name
Lord it's the sweetest
It's the sweetest
It's the sweetest name
Now this right here is
quartet, all right?
I know
Woo!
Come on, somebody!
Whoa
How I love Jesus
Come on, sweetheart.
Oh
How I love Jesus
Whoo!
Oh
How I love Jesus
Because
He first
He loved me
Let him use you, baby!
Come on, somebody!
Woo!
He's
So wonderful
To me
He is
So wonderful
To me
He is
So wonderful
Because he first
loved me
Oh yeah
Because he...
Reverend Franklin. What?
So what do you have to say
about these charges of
child support
that's against you?
What, against me?
Man, what are you talking about?
Get that camera out...
Get that thing out of my face,
get that camera up out of here.
Lamar, what is he talking about?
I don't know.
Child support?
I'll find it...
Get that camera out
of here, get...
So your wife doesn't know.
So, Mrs. Franklin, are you
saying that you did not know
that your husband owes $70,000
in back child support
to the state?
[WOMAN]
$70,000, oh, hell no.$70,000!
I know you ain't talking
about my pastor.
I got you, brother, don't
worry about it, I got you.
All right. I got you.
It's all right,
I'll take care of it.
Your pastor.
And he has one on the way.
[MAN]
Oh, Lord.
Look, Lamar...
I can't have this anymore.
I'm sick and tired of your lies.
[WOMAN]
What are you talking...
Baby, I love you.
I'm only with her for
appearances.
Oh, wait a minute, whoa...
Just give me a little
more time, baby.
Oh, my God. Well, you know what,
Lamar?
Your time is up
and only thing I want from you
is to pay for your child.
What are you talking...
Excuse me, I don't know
what she's talking about.
Obviously, this is some
sort of setup.
Get that camera
out of here, boy.
All I know is if she's
getting hers,
oh, baby, I want mine.
[WOMAN]
Wait a minute!
Wait a minute, whoa, whoa!
Calm down, calm down!
Take care... calm down.
I don't know...
calm down.
Well, Reverend Franklin...
so...
how do you plan to pay
for this all?
Maybe take up a collection?
Okay, Deacon, get this
young man out of here,
get him out of here.
Get that...
get that mic out of my face.
Get him out of here.
Yes, sir.
Lamar Franklin,
you're under arrest.
For what?
Daddy!
Daddy, no, please! Wait a minute!
Please leave my daddy alone! Wait, wait, wait.
Baby, baby, baby.
I'll be back, all right?
I'll take care of this,
I'll be back.
But, Daddy, we didn't get
a chance to finish our song.
You keep singing, you hear me?
You keep singing. All right, come on,
let's go!
[WOMAN] You better
get my money, Lamar.
You have the right to
remain silent.
I ain't said nothing. I want my money, Lamar.
[MAN]
Okay. Get out of here.
Where are they taking him? To jail.
This is Dick Dickerson from
Channel 27 Impact News.
Back to you, Diane.
Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.
Shame on you.
That day changed our
lives forever.
God, I miss my father.
Absolutely.
I never accept anything less
than perfection.
Well, I'll look into that and
send you over the particulars.
Well, just know if you're not
happy, I'm not happy.
We'll speak soon.
All right.
Hey, Jacob.
What you working on? Huh?
I bet you could
use a little break.
Uh-huh.
You know what they say
about all work and no play.
Uh-huh.
Oh, honey, you smell so good.
Cat.
Yes?
Did you get Emily's
measurements?
What did you say?
I said, did you get...
I heard you
the first time, Jacob,
and I swear, if I hear you
mention that girl's name
one more time,
I'm gonna slit my wrists.
Are you serious?
No, the question is,
are you serious?
I'm not blind,
Jacob, and I'm not crazy.
I see the way you look at her.
It's the same way
you used to look at me.
You're out of control, Cat. I am not out of control.
Do you understand what I have
sacrificed to be with you?
Do you?
And, Jacob,
I've given up everything.
Everything... my friends...
my family, my life.
And I've done things for you
that I would never
do for another
human being on this planet.
I have put my life in jeopardy
for you, Jacob.
I have been there.
It was me.
I have been there, right there,
by your side through things
that would have
destroyed any other woman
and you know it.
You know it, you know it,
you know it.
You wanna know what?
I would do it all again.
I would, I...
I would do it over and over
again because I love you.
I love you, Jacob.
It's me, I love you.
Do you understand?
Just listen to me,
it's me, honey.
Nobody's gonna ever love you...
Look, you need to pull
yourself together.
Now, baby, I've told you,
love can be a detrimental
distraction.
How could you have
possibly forgotten the rules
of the game, Cat,
when I made you?
Need I remind you...
who makes
the impossible possible?
I do. Please don't do that.
Who makes people say yes
when everything in them
wants to say no?
I do.
Stop it.
Oh, God!
And who has the power of life
and death in his tongue?
Jacob, you're hurting me. Open your damn mouth.
No, you do, you do.
Absolutely right, Cat,
and you'd do well to never,
ever forget it.
Now, I'm gonna ask you again.
Did you get Emily's
measurements?
No.
But I'll take care of it
right away.
[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
Oh, Jacob, that is so beautiful.
What does it mean?
"The measure of your love
is only equal to
that of your loyalty."
Yeah
Uh-oh, uh-oh oh
[WOMAN]
Shante, what's up, girl?
There she go.
Shante.
Shante, you ready
to get this money?
Shan... Why she acting like
she don't hear nobody?
You acting all... What?
Dang!
What happened to your eye?
Girl, what happened
to your eye this time?
Look, y'all know
I'm clumsy, okay?
I bumped into a door.
God.
Girl, about... what?
Bump into a door?
This what happened
last time, right?
I fell down
some steps on my eyeball.
[LAUGHING]
Very funny, but this ain't
none of y'all business.
Y'all need to mind
y'all business, okay?
Uh-uh, uh-uh, huh-uh,
look here, one-eye.
All I'm saying is I know what
I'd do if that was me.
Shoot, I ain't got
this CCW for nothing, girl.
"Blaow!"
In your face!
[MOCK LAUGHING]
Okay, Miss CCW,
so I guess you got
all your little tricks
lined up, huh?
And there you go hating.
Whatever.
Mystical, you know that fine
Jamaican of yours, girl?
Oh, now hold on, hold on.
Boop, boop, boop.
Uh-huh, girl.
He had you up in VIP and he was
making it rain 20s on you.
Yeah. Get your girl.
There she go hating again. She ain't hating.
He has a new girl in VIP.
That girl's planning
to steal your money.
Uh-uh.
Who is you talking about?
The new girl, Miss Passion.Yep.
Passion. What you gonna do about that?
Yeah, Miss CCW, what you
gonna do about that?
$100 right here.
Yep.
Yep, hundreds.
150,000.
Uh-uh-uh, if I didn't know you
better, I could tell you.
Move, Cyclops!
[AMBER]
We are taking you to see...
Beyonc! Beyonc!
[ALL SHOUTING]
Oh, my gosh...
I know!
I'm sayin', Passion!
She act like she don't hear me.
I said, Passion. What?
I need to holler at you, baby.
For what? "For what?"
- 'Cause you owe me some money.
- Girl, I don't owe you nothing.
Don't be coming up
in here talking...
All right, y'all better get her,
you know I'm on probation.
That's what I'm talking about.
Listen, I think there's some
kind of misunderstanding,
'cause she's...
There ain't no misunderstanding.
Back on back, fake... Man, get her, man.
No, I got this, 'cause
you ain't running nothing.
What do you want?
Don't be acting brand-new.
I heard you had one of my
regulars up in VIP,
so I'm gonna
need the bread, rookie.
Okay, I'm gonna tell you
like this.
It ain't my job to
keep tabs on your regulars.
That's your job.
And for the record, sweetie,
he asked me.
Oh, what you think, you cute?
You hood, you hard like that?
I'm talking about all up
in my face with that
yin, that yang, that...
[SPEAKING GIBBERISH]
How about this?
I don't hear none of that, huh?
What?
This is what I know.
You owe me some money, so you
need to be forking that over.
Okay, and this is what I know.
Huh, hmm, huh?
Hear this. Whatever, whatever.
I don't owe you jack! Oh, for real, for real?
So you better get
the hell up out my face!
[ALL YELLING]
She owe me!
What, what?
[ALL SHOUTING]
It don't even matter.
You know, you know.
I don't have time for that,
you understand.
She put her hands on me, right?
Oh, okay.
So you know it's
about to go down, right?
[ALL SHOUTING]
Don't put your
hands on me, girl!
Never put your hands on me!
[GRUNTING]
Stop it!
Stop it, Amber!
Call security!
[SCREAMING]
Stop, stop!
[SCREAMING]
Stop it, Amber!
[ALL SHOUTING]
[SCREAMING]
Amber, stop it!
[SCREAMING]
Don't you ever
put your hands on me!
Amber, stop! Get off of me!
What?
[ALL SHOUTING]
[AMBER]
Please come back!
That's right!
Get off of me!
What the hell, Amber,
what are you doing?
And who is Passion?
It's my stage name.
We don't have stage names,
what do you need that for?
Okay, you know what?
Y'all may be cool with getting
this little bit of money
that we getting from
singing, but I need more!
Amber, you're not answering
the question.
What do you want to know?
What are you doing? What are you doing?
Oh, okay then.
So y'all really wanna know,
church girls?
It's real simple.
There's a whole lot more to
The Sapphire than meets the eye,
'cause, baby, when
that clock strikes 12:00...
that's when all hell
breaks loose
and that's when
that real money can be made.
Wait...
Real money doing what?
Stripping.
What? What'd you say?
Stripping, you heard me.
I'm here every night,
getting buck naked,
taking off all
my clothes for these men.
Amber! What?
Come on, y'all.
I mean, how many conversations
are we gonna sit around
and have about
we tired of struggling.
Somebody tell me that, huh?
All right, let me ask you
a question, baby girl.
Kaleta.
I mean, how many jobs
are you gonna
juggle back and forth
trying to pay for school, huh?
That has nothing to do with...
It has everything to do
with what you're doing.
It does not justify1
what you're doing, Amber.
Okay, so what about you? What about me, then?
Oh, you mean to tell me
you're cool with staying
at your mama crib?
Definitely, if I can
keep my clothes on.
Letting your
mama pay your bills.
You out of your...
Man, shut up,
talking to me right now!
I ain't trying to hear
nothing you got to say!
Shut all that down!
I saw an opportunity
to make some money
and I took advantage of it.
And I'm gonna
tell y'all like this.
Baby, these men...
Baby, these men love me.Amber.
And when they pay me,
they pays me well.
Amber, what...
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
What?
You know what?
That's real good.
Now run my money!
[EMILY]
Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow
of death...
I was staring down the barrel
of a gun and I was so scared.
I thought they
were gonna kill us.
What have we gotten
ourselves into?
How could Amber put us
in a situation like this?
Father, God, please,
if you just let...
Just let us get
out of this one, I promise,
I promise, just get us
out of this.
Just get us out.
[AMBER]
Just move out the way, move!
Move out the way.
Stop yelling at me, I didn't
do this to you, okay?
And Kaleta, oh, my gosh,
you cannot just stand there
when something
like that is going on.
If you see a gun, dial 9...
Kaleta?
She came, right?
Wow.
What are you doing?
Emily, none of this
is making any sense.
I mean, strippers and guns.
I can't do this.
This is not what... Calm down, calm down.
Calm down, all right?
I already talked to Jacob
and he said the situation
with Mystical is under control.
We don't have anything
to worry about.
Okay, Amber,
that's what he said,
but what about all this crazy
stuff going on at The Sapphire?
Kaleta, you ain't gotta do
nothing you don't want to do.
I know that, but I don't want
you to be doing it, either.
Please stop
yelling at each other.
Okay, sorry. All right.
I'm sorry y'all
had to find out this way,
but I'm so glad it's
out in the open.
You're stripping.
How do you even get started
doing something like that?
Man, it ain't even that deep.
Do you hear you? Yeah, I hear me.
Dang.
Cat pulled me
to the side one night,
told me there was an opportunity
for me to make some more money
so she set me up on a test run.
A test run for stripping?
Yeah, yeah, you know, you just
walk in the club, grab a pole.
You ain't
scared of nothing, huh?
Would y'all come on?
Be realistic, please.
Of course I was scared.
But I had a few drinks,
I loosened up
and I was able to do my thing
and I'm gonna keep it 100
with you right now.
It felt good.
I mean, to be honest with you,
it was the biggest rush I have
ever had in my life!
Am I the only person that
sees something wrong with this?
All right, all right,
Kaleta, I admit,
this ain't for
everybody, baby girl, it's not.
But the money?
The money is ridiculous.
I mean, on a good night,
I make like $1,000.
That's $1,000.That's $1,000 right there.
But on a real good night,
oh, the money is bananas.
Now y'all tell me where else I'm
gonna find this kind of money.
Yeah, especially without a GED.
Kaleta.
What?
She doesn't have one!
She doesn't.
Move. Shut up.
Sorry.
She doesn't have one.
Okay, you're telling me
you make $1,000 a night?
Yes, every night,
and sometimes
it's more than that, Em.
That explains the Manolos.
And the Gucci
and the Prada
and the Cadillac Escalade
sitting on 22s that
I'm picking up today.
Holler at your girl!
Come on, y'all.
I look at it like this.
I've been giving it up
to these dudes
all these years
only to be cheated on
and have my heart broken.
Well, from now on,
only thing about me
that's gonna ever be
broke is my heart.
Okay, Am... Pass...
Whatever your name is. Oh, God.
What is up with
this whole VIP thing?
Oh, okay, VIP is where
the fellas go to spend
a little personal time with
one of us girls, you feel me?
No.
No.
Man, it's real simple.
Tricks come in, they pay
like $40 to the house,
some of 'em wanna
get a little dance,
some of 'em wanna get
a little feel.
Some of 'em want
a little but more than that.
It all just depends on how far
a girl is willing to go.
Whoa, whoa,
hey, wait, wait, wait.
You're saying when they go up to
that little room, that's the...
So they...
No.
Yes, yes!
No, listen, y'all,
anything goes up in there.
Hear me out.
Okay, look, some of them fools
that come up in there,
they married, all they
want is a little excitement.
Every now and then you're gonna
sit down with a weirdo,
he just wants some conversation.
Oh, yeah.
But most of them jokers...
Baby, most of them
jokers is trying to
get what's in between them legs.
Oh, not mine, Jesus.Uh-huh.
Close your legs, what you doing?
Oh, yeah.
And they getting it, too.
Anywhere from $20 and up.$20?
$20.
And let me tell you
something else about VIP.
You gotta watch
your back, right?
'Cause undercover
be coming up in there,
putting them girls in handcuffs,
they be walking out, I be like,
"Damn, you busted..." Wait, wait, wait, wait...
Yo, yo, yo, yo, you be up
with the $20 crew?
Girl, no,
I don't do all of that.
I go in, I do my dance
and I bounce.
Get my money, that's all I do.
Whatever.
So basically what you're saying
is you all are hookers.
Really? No, no, no, no, no, no...
Did you just call me a hooker?
No, but that's what it is. We been friends
for how long?
You get money... Remember when
that little boy
took your stuff around
the playground?
[ALL YELLING]
Stop it!
Ren, Stimpy, go in the corner.
Don't tell me to go in
the corner, she's a hooker.
I ain't no hooker. You a hooker.
No, I ain't no hooker. Yes, you are.
Shut up! Shut up!
Dang.
I can't do this.
Okay, look. You're stressing me out.
Okay, listen.
Emily, please, if you
give me a couple minutes,
I'll explain it to you, please.
Break it down
like I'm a toddler.
Okay, listen, it's real simple.
I go in, I throw the house
$10, right?
I give the bouncer
a little something
so he can play
my favorite music for me.
I give Cat, the house mother,
a little something-something,
but the rest of
that bread, baby girl,
the rest of that bread
is all mine.
All of it.
And it sure beats the hell out
of working at some damn Subway
like Kaleta stuck over here
in this corner.
Yeah, and they only
get $5 for they foot-longs.
See what I'm saying? Kaleta!
What?
Really?
It's true!
But it's true, Emily.
Oh.
Okay.
All right, listen,
I got one more question.
What? Just a minute.
Y'all wearing me out
with the questions.
Please. What?
Will you talk some sense
into her, please.
Hush, foot-long.
What does it...
feel like
when you're up on the stage?
Girl, you're not supposed to ask
her what it feels like, Emily.
Baby...
it's like a feeling
that I ain't never,
ever felt in my life.
You hot? Uh-huh.
I mean, it's the ultimate,
ultimate fantasy.
Ooh.
'Cause when I'm on that stage,
I feel like I'm making love
to every man in that audience.
Ooh, Papi.
Ooh, Mommy.
There's my mommy.
Hey!
Ooh, ooh, ooh!
Praise the Lord, Pastor.
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah.
Yes, ma'am.
What's going on in here?
We just sitting here, talking
about Jesus, as usual.
There's your gym bag,
Mama, and I'll be back.
All right, sugar,
all right, all right.
Hi, Gammy.
Hey...
Hi, Grandma.
How y'all doing?
[AMBER] We doing all
right, look at you, Grandma.
You look so cute in your
peach little jogging suit.
Girl, I'm trying to get
this body together
for the summer, baby. I know, that's right.
Well, you know what, Grandma?
We were on our way out.
I'll call you, okay?
I gotta take Kaleta to work,
I gotta make a couple runs.
Wait a minute.
No, but you... you really ain't
got to go nowhere now.
But we don't want to
be in the way, Grandma.
Baby, you're not in the way,
just make sure she gone.
Just make sure...
She's gone, I think. Yeah, she gone, she gone.
How y'all been doing? Good.
Now you know
I've been going down
to the YMCA for my
aerobics class.
All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we getting ready for
a "golden girls" competition.
Okay.
Now I know y'all can let me know
how I look and, you know,
you'll give me some pointers,
so I want y'all
to let me know, okay?
Okay. Now wait a minute,
hold up.
Now just get this "ePod."
Grandma, it's iPod, it's... Don't correct me, baby.
All right.
And put it on record 12.Track...
Now I want y'all to... She still...
Shut up.
All right, now I want you to
come over here with me,
'cause you look like you know...
No, no, no, next time, okay?
You go over and sit down.
[MAN]
Still grindin'
All right, we gotta warm up
first, okay?
We got to stretch.Okay.
Don't try to take my stuff.
And down and up.
And down and up.
All right, one more time.
Wait a minute, I'm not gonna
be doing all that.
She didn't tell you to do that.
All right.
Still grindin'
Go, Grandma!
Hey!
Now they told me
to do that first.
Okay, warm it up first.
I'm just gonna warm it up.
Oh.
Bounce with it.
Gotta bounce with it.Okay.
Hey!
Keep bouncing.
I can do it, I can do that.
Woo!
Hey, hey!
That's good, Grandma.
Hey! I can do that!
Yeah, I like that!
This right here,
you gotta do this.
That's right, watch this.
This way and that way.Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Hey!
Go, Grandma! I like that.
This way.
Hey!
Circle.
Oh!
Girl!
Ahh... hey!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Go, Grandma!
Where she at?
Oh, Jesus, right now!
[ALL YELLING]
Hallelujah!
Woo!
Whoo!
Whoo.
Whoo!
Um...
Whoo!
Whoo, whoo!
Whoo...
Just give us a sec.
Um...
Whoo, whoo, whoo...
It didn't work, did it? No.
Oh, and I'm tired.
Oh, Jesus.
I can't shout like I used to.
I used to be able to pick 'em
up and put 'em down.
Used to... Get up.
Get up, Amber. Now y'all got to pick me up.
You'll get us
in trouble, get up.
Okay, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. Come on.
Hallelujah!
Stop.
Stop shaking.
Ooh, Jesus.
Amber.
Huh?
Amber Denise, what in the world
are you doing in my kitchen?
What are y'all doing?
We was in here with Grandma
and we was
having a prayer service
and the Holy Ghost just...
"flam!"
Mm-hmm.
Something fell,
but it wasn't holy.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Pull your pants up.
We were actually on our way out.
Kaleta, wait a minute, honey.Yes.
Where you going?
We... she's
gonna take me to work?
You coming to church Sunday?
Yes, I'm gonna
see you on Sunday.
You gonna be in the choir stand?
Yes, and I'm bringing Amber
with me on Sunday.
Hey!
Oh.
Speak for me?
I got a mouth.
I can speak for myself.
I don't need you to say nothing
for me, okay?
What about that, Amber?
Mama!
Now you know
I ain't gonna lie to you.
You too close to Jesus.
I tell you a lie,
He strike me down.
Not a good look, is it?
So I'm gonna see what I can do.
All right now.
Woo!
Kaleta, you bring that thing
with you.
[KALETA]
I will, I will. And be on time.
Okay.
That Amber is a mess.
Whoo.
She ain't gonna never change. You don't know the half, Mom.
And what's going on
with my mama?
Why y'all have
my mama bent over like that?
I had nothing...
She's the mother of our church.
And God has blessed her
with many a gift
and talent, apparently.Oh...
No?
No.
Okay.
Okay.
This is for you, though, baby.
That's what you asked me for. My computer.
Thank you, Mommy, thank you!
Thank you.
Yeah.
Now, let me ask you this, baby.
Where were you the other night?
There was choir rehearsal.
We missed you.
What's going on?
I was...
I'm sorry, I forgot.
I had to work a double
at the hospital.
All right, baby.
You had to work a double shift
at the hospital, huh?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay.
You had to work a double shift
at the hospital,
but you told me
you were part-time?
Mm-hmm.
I'm waiting.Yep.
So...
you part-time, but you're
working a double shift.
Working full-time,
but you part-time.
Now would you please explain to
me how you gonna do all that
with your full load of
classes in the fall, Emily?
Actually, I wanted to talk
to you about that.
I was thinking maybe
I would take one semester off.
Ooh, no, ma'am, no, ma'am.
Okay, just one, Ma.
No, ma'am.
No, no, no, no, no.
You have one more
semester before you
finish nursing school. I know.
Okay, and I unders... You've got to finish, baby.
I need to see that name,
honey...
Mom, would you
just listen to the plan...
... on that Howard University
diploma.
I have some other dreams here,
you know, and if I don't
go after them now,
I may never get another chance.
But, baby, you have
all that time.
No, I don't have a lot of time.
Yes... Would you just listen to me
for a second about what
I really want?
You've got to finish school.
Mama wants to
see your name on that...
Mom, I'm not saying
I won't go back, okay?
It's just... not everything fits
into a neat little plan
like you think it does.
I really wanna go after this. But, baby...
Mama has made sacrifices.
I have scrimped and saved. Mom, okay.
I'll pay you back. I spent all my extra money.
I'll pay you back.
Emily, I spent every extra dime
on your classes,
your books, your materials.
Nursing is expensive. Are you even...
Would you listen to
what I want to do, please?
I made plans.
I have planned for your success.
I want you to do better
than I did.
Mom...
Mama's trying to make you do
better than I did.
You're trying to make me do... My plans are for you, baby.
And that's the problem.
Mama, what are you
talking about?
What do you mean?
You know exactly what I mean.
No, I don't know what you mean.
Now, I didn't want to
get involved, but listen.
Now, baby, I know you've been
doing everything for everybody,
all your life.
I know this because you
take care of me, I know this.
But the only problem is
with this situation.
You cannot
plan that baby's life.
Mama... Have you ever... Uh-uh.
Have you ever asked her one time
what does she wanna really do?
No.I did not pick nursing.
You are not hearing anything
I... Mom, this is my life.
I'm listening to you. This is my life!
It's mine,
I have to live it my way.
All right, all right, okay.
Lord have mercy...
That's a lot of grown-folk
talk for somebody
living under my roof. Living under my roof.
No, don't... don't...
don't mock me, girl.
No, ma'am, no, ma'am, no, ma'am.
Last time I checked, I pay all
the bills up in here.
All the bills in this house:
electric, gas, everything.
And I don't get
no help from nobody,
and as long as you're
in my house
and I'm making sacrifices,
Emily, that I can't afford,
you will abide by my rules.
I didn't break
any of your rules.
I promised you if you
stayed in school
and you went to church,
I would support you,
but now you're skipping school,
you don't come to church,
you ain't singing in choir
rehearsal.
I only missed
one choir rehearsal!
I don't know what's going on.
Uh-uh, you've missed more
than one choir rehearsal.
I don't know what's going on,
but I'm telling you,
if you got a change
of plans and you're so grown,
you wanna do it your way,
you're gonna do it your way,
in your own place.
Come on, now.
Come on.
Yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am,
I might just do that.
No, no. I didn't hear you.
What's you say? I said, I might
just do that.
Come on, let's pray, come on.
Oh, don't might do it, honey.
Mm-mmm, don't might do it.
Do it with all your might!
All right, Maya,
that's enough, that's enough!
No, Mama!
I'm not through talking to you!
You are not...
[ALL SHOUTING]
Let her go, Mama, let her go.
Oh, my God.
Bad decisions!
And disrespectful.
I never talked to
you like that, Mama.
You didn't allow it
and I finished school.
I'm not gonna have it
in my house.
Maybe I should have
done that differently
Yes I'm worried Mama
'Cause it
may come back to bite me
I didn't mean to push her
I really didn't mean to
make her leave
But what
can I do Mama
She's my only baby
And I want
the best for her
Oh yeah
Didn't mean to
leave that way
Jesus
Thought I'd stay at home
Until
my wedding day
But I'll be
all right
I'll be okay
It's gonna work out
Things are
gonna go my way
Lived my life for
everybody else
Now I'm going
to do it my way
Well Maya
Are you happy now?
Do you see
what you have done?
You both are so strong-willed
and stubborn
Can't imagine
where you get that from
Mmm, mmm, mmm
Whoo!
As for me and this
house Mama
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm the only one
As long as I live
Under my roof
Yeah, yeah, yeah
She's gonna do it
the way I want it
So
I must do it
I've got to do it
Gonna
do it my way
It's my way
No I won't
miss out
I've gotta do it
gonna do it my way
I need ya, need ya
It's my way
Gonna do it my way
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
Gonna
do it my way
Oh
If she wouldn't
be so spoiled Mama
I didn't want this to end
the fight
But I've got to
do what I think is right
Oh
My way
My way
You can't
do it your way
Mama that's my child She can do it her way
Mama that's my child
You gotta
do it your way
Yeah
She gotta hold on Oh Mama
Don't give up
don't give in
Hang on in there
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
She's my baby
I don't know, I don't know
I don't know
Oh I don't know
Look, it's pure and uncut.
I get it straight
from the Colombians.
But nobody can give you
a better deal, bro.
I have a shipment
coming in tonight.
My man.
Yeah.
All right, we'll talk later.
What do you know?
The two most powerful players in
the city are now joining forces.
Yeah.
I'm gonna put 'em on my team.
As soon as we get in good,
I'm gonna
take over his operation.
Hell yeah.
Things are coming together
just as I planned, baby.
Matter of fact,
they couldn't be better.
I got the whole damn city in
the palm of my hand.
What do you think, baby?
I think that there
is nothing sexier...
... than a black man
handling his business.
This is big, baby.
This will put us on top.
My favorite position. Listen to you.
You sure don't sound like my
same little innocent Emily.
I had an amazing teacher. That's true.
Come to bed,
I wanna show you something.
Not right now, baby,
I got work to do.
Not right now, baby.
Chill out,
stop being so damn thirsty.
I told you, we got a lot
of work to do.
So you wanna be down,
you wanna be on the team,
I need to know that you're
ready to prove it.
I need to know
that I can trust you, baby,
because if it's you and me,
it's you and me
against the world.
Jacob...
I will never, ever betray you.
Is that right?
That's right.
Okay.
But look here.
I need you to...
get close to him.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
Yeah, but, baby...
Ow!
There are no "buts" in life.
It's do or die.
Okay.
Now, I'm gonna ask you
again... nicely.
Baby, do you understand?
Yes, yes, I'll do whatever!
That's my angel.
I have incredible plans
for a life of no limits
by any means necessary,
and you can be
a part of that, baby.
You know, I've given it
a lot of thought
and I have decided that...
I don't want any of it.
Hey, hey, hey.
Come here.
Come here.
Acting like that.
Listen to me.
I don't want any of it
without you by my side.
Jacob, I love the sound of that.
Angel.
Yes, Jacob?
[SPEAKING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
My goodness,
that's so beautiful.
What does it mean?
"The measure of your love
is only equal to that
of your loyalty."
I can trust you, right? Of course.
I got something for you.
What?
It's gonna make you
feel real good.
Just...
Just take it.
Okay.
[SNIFFING]
Yeah.
[EMILY] I was fast becoming the
number-one girl at The Sapphire.
I was in love with the crowd
and they were in love
with me and I...
I loved Jacob.
Mmm.
I would do any and everything
to make my baby happy.
Jacob and I had some big plans,
but we would soon find out
that we weren't the only ones
making plans.