"Empire" season 2 episode 8 saw the subtle evolution of Lyon boys as Hakeem dropped his last name while Jamal landed a big endorsement deal on his own terms.
"Empire" season 2 episode 8, titled "My Bad Parts," showed Lucious (Terrence Howard) asserting his power once again by releasing a rap by Freda (Bre-Z Murray) to challenge Hakeem.
Hakeem was making out with Luara (Jamila Velazquez) when she revealed that she was still a virgin. Their rendezvous was interrupted by a call after which Hakeem discovered Freda's online rap video that had gone viral.
Hakeem circulated another video in which he slamed his father for petting Freda and challenged her for a rap-off.
On the other hand, Jamal was working for a Pepsi deal wherein he needed to prepare a song for the brand. He was competing with 10 other artists to come up with the winning song to become the face of the brand.
Anika (Grace Gealey) has conceived after a make-out session with Hakeem. She called him up but ended up in voice mail. Later, Anika tried to get close to Hakeem before breaking the pregnany news. Hakeem backed off and told her that he is in love with Laura but they can still be friends. Anika did not reveal anything about pregnancy and left him alone.
Meanwhile, Cookie was furious over Hakeem for challenging Freda since she was "an animal." Laz (Adam Rodriguez) pitched in to further slam Hakeem after which the two ended up kicking each other. Cookie jumps in and slapped her boyfriend with a warning to never touch him again.
Both Cookie and Lucious wanted to help out Jamal for his Pepsi song but were not ready to work together. Jamal tried to convince the two but failed miserably after which Cookie offered a bet to Lucious that if Hakeem won the rap battle, Jamal would do his next album on her label.
Jamal created the Pepsi song by using inputs from both Lucious and Cookie and ended up winning the competition.
In Hakeem versus Freda rap battle, Hakeem met with a bumpy start but won before announcing that he was dropping his last name. Everybody was at a club to celebrate when Cookie's sister Candace (guest star Vivica A. Fox) showed up.