On July 18th, the American crime drama television series Power Book III: Raising Kanan, created by Sascha Penn, debuted and instantly became a fan favorite The series chronicles South Jamaica, Queen's drug world in the early '90s. The prequel offers fans within the Power Universe an in-depth look at the upbringing of Kanan Starkz (Mekai Curtis) the former mentor-boss turned rival of Ghost and Tommy.
Power fans were introduced to Kanan in season one, played by rapper 50 Cent, when his son Shawn (Sinqua Walls) visits him in prison. Up until the time of his death in season 5 as a result of a shoot-out with the police, Kanan terrorized the show's characters and committed unthinkable acts of violence including murdering his own son and favorite cousin Jukebox (Anika Noni Rose). On Sundays at 8pm, viewers now see a different side of Kanan. The coming-of-age story centered around what happens when you live a life of crime, also beautifully captures the bond between a single mother and her son.
Five episodes in, we have met his immediate family and have a more layered understanding of the adult version of Kanan, who can simply be described as a cold villain. His mother Raquel (Patina Miller), better known as Raq, is the matriarch of her family and one of the biggest drug dealers in Queens. She is constantly grappling with her identity as both a mother and drug dealer. Her two brothers, Marvin (London Brown) and Lou-Lou (Malcolm Thomas) assist her by providing the kind of protection that is necessary to survive in the drug game and outsmart their rival Unique, played by Joey Bada$$. Whatever Raq says goes.
We also are reintroduced to Kanan's favorite cousin and best friend, Jukebox (Hailey Kilgore). His first taste of street life was murdering his girlfriend Davina's boyfriend. We can assume that Davina (Lovie Simone) will eventually find out about his betrayal, but for now, it's a secret Kanan is comfortable hiding.
Kanan is not the only one in Southside holding onto secrets. Jukebox has been hiding her sexuality from her family and Raq has been keeping the biggest secret of all--Kanan's father is not who he thinks he is. In episode five of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, it's revealed that Detective Malcolm Howard (Omar Epps) is Kanan's biological father.
Holding a secret of his own, Detective Howard is currently dying from leukemia and in need of a bone-marrow transplant. For Detective Howard, finding a donor is a matter of life or death. Now that he is aware Kanan is his son, maybe there is some hope he'll be a match. In the exclusive clip below, we see Detective Howard asking Dr. Nichols (Tina Benko) a very important question.
