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WATCH | Joey Bada$$ Speaks On Why Audiences Gravitate Towards “Unique” In ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’
essencemagazine
Follow
3/7/2025
“Unlike many villains that we’ve seen before—we were never able to go into their world,” the rapper said.
Category
🛠️
Lifestyle
Transcript
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00:00
Even the love bond between Younique and Rock,
00:05
I don't think the writers initially had that in mind.
00:09
But if you remember, or if you go back to season one,
00:13
when Younique and Rock meet up in the park for the first time
00:18
and after their exchange, I literally did an ad-lib of a line
00:23
and, like, I kind of flirted with her character.
00:27
I told her something about, like,
00:28
oh, you need to come to the shop,
00:30
let me work on that jacket for you.
00:32
And I think that was the first time that the writers saw,
00:36
like, oh, snap, like, this could go somewhere.
00:40
You know what I mean?
00:41
So I definitely thank the whole production team
00:45
for allowing me the freedom
00:47
to be able to even do things like that.
00:57
Younique was presumed dead, but as we all know, he's back.
01:01
How does it feel stepping back into the role
01:02
after those shocking turn of events?
01:06
It felt great, man.
01:08
You know, ending off at what felt like,
01:13
you know, my last day on the set
01:16
and being able to come back with just a whole new energy,
01:21
a whole new side of the character
01:26
that I was able to portray.
01:27
I mean, it was very exciting.
01:29
So I saw that the public was really, really happy
01:32
about you coming back to, man.
01:34
And your character has been a fan favorite
01:37
despite him being a villain.
01:38
How do you feel about his impact on the show so far?
01:41
Oh, I feel great about it.
01:43
I mean, I think that the reason why people are able
01:49
to take a liking to Younique,
01:51
because unlike many villains that we've seen before,
01:56
we didn't get to really go into their world like that.
02:00
You know what I'm saying?
02:01
Like we got to go home with Younique.
02:03
We got to see the challenges that he faces.
02:06
We got to see who he does it for, why he does it.
02:10
And I think that was able to humanize him
02:14
in a certain type of way that made people resonate
02:17
with who he was, even though he was the opp, per se.
02:23
Now, at the end of season three,
02:26
we saw that Kanan was the one
02:27
that killed Younique's brother, Ronnie.
02:30
In what ways do you think
02:31
that will motivate Younique this season?
02:33
I'm not sure.
02:34
You know what I'm saying?
02:35
Just based on the first two episodes,
02:41
I think for Younique, it's more about,
02:45
man, y'all all had something to do with it.
02:48
Y'all all conspired against me, you know?
02:51
So I don't care who pulled the trigger.
02:54
Y'all all worked together to get at me,
02:57
to get me out the way.
02:58
And I think that is his main concern.
03:00
That is his main focus.
03:02
And he is motivated by that the most.
03:07
So, and kind of adding to that,
03:09
because I'm actually glad you said that, my brother.
03:11
Do you think in this season,
03:13
with all the eyes stacked against Younique,
03:16
do you think there's any hope for redemption behind that?
03:20
Oh yeah, absolutely.
03:21
I mean, I think aside from the revenge,
03:25
there is a redemptive arc that he's on.
03:28
And it's not the first time we've seen him redeem himself,
03:32
him go through a path of redemption, you know?
03:36
So he's no stranger to having to pull back and shake back.
03:40
But this time, it just comes with a lot of blood.
03:44
And if you can answer this question too, man,
03:46
when you first were brought onto the show,
03:49
what was your vision for Younique
03:51
and how did that vision turn out so far?
03:54
My vision for him was exactly who he seemed to be.
03:58
You know what I mean?
04:01
My vision was that people would take a liking to him, right?
04:07
Because he had this charisma, he had this charm,
04:11
even though he was on the other side.
04:14
And I think it played out well.
04:16
And I think once I wore the character,
04:20
it gave the writers some type of inspiration
04:24
to take his character development in a certain way
04:29
because they saw what I was able to do with him.
04:33
And, you know,
04:34
because originally Younique was supposed to be an older cat.
04:37
He was supposed to be much older.
04:38
He was supposed to be played by somebody who was older.
04:41
But, you know, when I went in for the audition,
04:44
Sasha, he rolled the dice on me.
04:46
He was like, yeah, nah,
04:48
I like what this kid is doing with it.
04:50
And with each episode that we shot,
04:53
it just allowed me to kind of get more comfortable
04:55
and comfortable to do things like trust my instincts,
04:59
which is, for me, a strength, right?
05:03
You know, because even the love bond
05:07
between Younique and Rock,
05:10
I don't think the writers initially had that in mind.
05:14
But if you remember, or if you go back to season one,
05:18
when Younique and Rock meet up in the park
05:21
for the first time and after their exchange,
05:25
I literally did an ad-lib of a line.
05:28
And like, I kind of flirted with her character.
05:32
I told her something about like,
05:33
oh, you need to come to the shop.
05:34
Let me work on that jacket for you.
05:37
And I think that was the first time
05:39
that the writers saw like, oh, snap,
05:43
like this could go somewhere.
05:45
You know what I mean?
05:46
So I definitely thank the whole production team
05:49
for allowing me the freedom
05:52
to be able to even do things like that,
05:54
because I was definitely able to contribute
05:58
to the path that this character was on.
06:01
Now, this season is about revenge and survival.
06:04
Without spoiling too much,
06:06
what are you most excited for fans to see this season?
06:10
Most excited for fans to see this season.
06:15
I'm just most excited to see,
06:17
I'm most excited for them to see
06:20
this new version of Younique, right?
06:22
Because this is a character that a lot of people love,
06:26
but this is him in a whole new way.
06:28
He's unhinged, he's impulsive,
06:30
he's unpredictable, he's in full crash out mode.
06:33
We're used to seeing him be calculated
06:36
and self-controlled, self-contained,
06:39
and this is not that.
06:42
You know what I mean?
06:43
So I think that it's gonna be a surprise
06:47
for a lot of people and be very interesting to watch.
06:52
Well, Joey, thank you so much, my brother.
06:54
I appreciate your time, man.
06:55
Good luck on everything, man.
06:56
No problem, peace.
07:00
Peace.
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