‘Power Book II: Ghost’: How Did 50 Cent Convince Mary J. Blige to Join the Cast?
Mary J. Blige portrays the firey and calculating drug queenpin Monet Tejada in Power Book II: Ghost. Looking for a way to sell drugs, Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) finds himself entangled with Monet and her family. Though he initially only wants to earn money for his mother’s criminal defense, he soon realizes that the Tejada web is not an easy one to escape.
Monet, in particular, has a tight leash on her children, Cane (Woody McClain), Diana (LaToya Tonodeo), and Dru (Lovell Adams-Gray). Blige portrays the character so well that it’s easy to see why she won the role. However, the superstar says Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson had to convince her to join the cast.
Mary J. Blige says her ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ character Monet Tejada is influenced by her mother
From the long red hair to the menacing scowl, Blige portrays Monet perfectly. Though Blige’s life is nothing like the drug queenpin’s she channeled her mother and looked toward her upbringing to nail down the character.
“It was easy to put this character into play, because I know what Power is about,” the singer told the LA Times. “I grew up in the inner city, in the projects. I’ve seen what it really is, and Courtney and 50 have been so brilliant in showing it. I saw Ghost in front of my building growing up. I hung out with Monet. I knew Tasha.”
She went on to add that her mother’s hustler spirit also enabled her to channel the character. “Everyone woman I know is a Monet, a hustler; my mum’s a hustler, a single-parent mum raising all of her children by herself in a hood, male-dominated,” she told Deadline via Express.
50 Cent convinced Mary J. Blige to portray Monet
Though Blige is a Grammy-Award-winning singer, she is no stranger to the big and small screens. She has starred in films like Mudbound and Respect and she also has a starring role in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy.
While she had long been a fan of Power, executive producer, 50 Cent had to convince her to join the Power Universe.
“It’s amazing!” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I have to thank 50 and Courtney just for this opportunity to be a part of this whole universe,” she said. “I remember sitting down to talk with him about the character and he was telling me about all this stuff that was coming. I knew the stuff was coming and it was a beautiful thing to be a part of this legacy that’s he’s building.”
Monet will get a new love interest in ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Season 2
With her husband Lorenzo incarcerated, Monet has been trying to run the family organization and keep her three children, Cane, Dru, and Diana afloat alone. However, she’s not above leaning on the company of men to get some things done.
In season 1, she was having an affair with a corrupt NYPD officer who was on her husband’s payroll. However, this season her new love- interest is going to be a lot more menacing.
This season, Monet will find herself falling for Mecca (Daniel Sunjata), the Tejada’s new distributor.
“Monet finds herself in bed with Mecca, a man who wants to show her a whole new world, potentially at the cost of destroying her old one, forcing Monet to lean on Tariq, who must decide what he really wants and what he’s going to sacrifice to get it,” the Starz press release reads via TV Line.
