Michael Foster-Sanders
senior producer
What turns a person into a stone-cold killer? Is it the child’s upbringing, neighborhood or is it just in their DNA?
Fans of the crime drama “Power,” wondered this as they saw Kanan Stark kill his only child because, in his eyes, he was weak and not cut from the same cloth as he was.
Stark eventually met his end by the same deceitful ways that he was baptized in as a teenager by Tariq St. Patrick, a child he saw himself in and thought of as a son. “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” gives insight into the past that shaped the future Power’s universe.
The show is narrated by rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who played adult Kanan. The story begins with Kanan getting into a fight as a child with a couple of teenagers who decide to take his money, due to him being a chubby kid who doesn’t know how to defend himself. Returning home, crying and dejected, Kanan’s mother Raq demands to know what’s wrong.
Kanan tells his mother what happened at the playground and she asks him two things, “Did you fight back, and do you still have your money?”
Kanan tells her no, and she fills a white tube sock with die-cast metal hot wheel cars. She tells Kanan they’re going back to the teenagers to take back what’s his. Kanan mercilessly beats the teens while his mother watches on.
This sets the tone for the show with a mother trying to teach her son how to survive by being ruthless.
Fast forward a few years later and Kanan is now 15. His family are the biggest drug dealers in Southside, Jamaica Queens. Kanan is living a normal life until he sees rival drug dealers trying to intimidate his mother. He takes it upon himself to protect his mother, thus creating the catalyst that will change his world forever.
The world of “Raising Kanan” transports the viewer back into the year 1991 with its authentic aesthetic, from the clothes, lingo and hairstyles. The inclusion of the infamous real-life Lo-Life shoplifting gang that will make you appreciate the attention to detail that Curtis Jackson put into this show reflecting his upbringing.
The “Power” universe’s most ruthless villain, Kanan Stark, is given a backstory. Mekai Curtis plays the teen verison of 50 Cent’s character in the year 1991.
The side stories of Raising Kanan also will keep viewers tuning in with its themes of female empowerment, LGBTQ acceptance and the “haves” vs the “have nots” within the struggle of obtaining Power.
The only issue one may have with the show is that the episodes are only an hour long. Because once Raising Kanan gives the viewer a taste of its product, it’s going to have them fiending for more.
