‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’: Is the Show About 50 Cent’s Real Life?
Power Book III: Raising Kanan is the second spinoff in the Power Universe. While the rest of the spinoffs in the franchise take place after the events of the original series, Raising Kanan is different. Set in the 90s in Queens, New York, the series serves as a prequel to Power.
The show centers on Kanan Stark (portrayed by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) in the original series. Raising Kanan will showcase Kanan’s upbringing and how he became the ruthless gangster that wreaked havoc on James “Ghost” St. Patrick’s life.
Since some elements about Kanan’s life are so similar to 50 Cent‘s upbringing in real life, is the series actually based on the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ rapper?
What is ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ about?
Power Book III: Raising Kanan opens in Jamaica, Queens in 1991. 15-year-old Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) is navigating his life as a teenager in what 50 Cent has called his “innocence phase.”
“You’ll see his very first fight—things that eventually turned him into the character that you see in Power,” he told Deadline. “It touches time periods where the music, the feel of the series is just exciting. It’s in the ‘90s; late ‘80s to early ‘90s in hip-hop.”
Power creator Courtney A. Kemp has reminded fans that though Raising Kanan is in the Power Universe, Raising Kanan is different from the original series and Power Book II: Ghost. “It’s a very different show in terms of pacing and feel,” Power creator Courtney A Kemp told Deadline, “It does feel like Power, you definitely feel the Power of that in that show, the capital P Power, but it also has its own small p power in the story that it’s telling and in its time, and you want to make sure that the audience feels that as well.”
Will 50 Cent star in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’?
In addition to Curtis, Omar Epps stars in the series as Detective Malcolm Howard and Patina Miller will portray Raq, a drug queenpin, and Kanan’s mother. The rest of the cast includes Joey Bada$$, London Brown, Shanley Caswell, Malcolm Mays, Toby Sandeman, Lovie Simone, and Hailey Kilgore. Recurring stars include Quincy Brown, Natalee Linez, Ade Chike Torbert, and Annabelle Zasowski.
From the trailer, it’s clear that 50 Cent is narrating the series as adult Kanan. However, fans want to know if the Queens-born rapper will also appear in flashforward scenes on the show. Kemp is staying tight-lipped about how the series might include adult Kanan.
“I would love to see all different versions of that, to be honest with you,” Kemp told Deadline. “But I want to make sure that Raising Kanan itself has an opportunity to be its own series and not make that compete with Ghost.”
Is ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ about 50 Cent’s real life?
Born and raised in Queens, 50 Cent was raised by his mother, Sabrina who was a drug dealer until she died in a fire when he was just eight. By the age of 12 at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, 50 Cent was selling drugs himself. In fact, the character Kanan Stark is loosely based on his life as a teen and in his early 20s selling drugs on the streets of Queens.
