‘Empire’ soundtrack review: Yazz, Jussie Smollett, Terrence Howard

In the context of Fox’s “Empire,” in which characters played by Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson endlessly one-up each other and drag their three grown sons into an excellently absurdist record-business “King Lear,” “Snitch Bitch” is the perfect song. It’s a hip-hop-revenge-fantasy earworm, full of gleeful synth hooks, as Howard’s slick and murderous mogul Lucious Lyon, recording in prison with veteran North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo as his weighty duet partner Clyde, declares war on Henson’s Cookie.

The making of “Snitch Bitch” is a memorable Season 2 scene, and the song sounds fantastic in background snippets on fictional radio stations, as Lucious returns from prison to inhabit one of his many pinstriped power suits. Removed from the context of the show, though, it’s a novelty — Howard can rap, as he showed in his breakthrough film “Hustle & Flow,” but not well enough to join Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The other tracks are similarly limited, even endearing R&B sweet-nothings like “Never Love Again” and “Born to Love You” by Jussie Smollett, who plays sensitive son Jamal and had a minor Season 1 hit with “Good Enough.” Smollett has the show’s best voice and may be its best chance for beyond-TV stardom.

Executive-produced by Timbaland, one of many actual music stars to appear on the show, the Season 2 soundtrack is designed for real-life credibility. (Whereas the Season 1 soundtrack emphasized cameos by Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige and Courtney Love, this installment mostly allows the actors to rise and fall on their own.) “Get No Better (2.0),” starring the music-video queen played by pretty-voiced Serayah, has a sensual power on “Empire” but loses potency here; “Runnin’,” the sprightly girl-group anthem recorded by the excellently named Mirage a Trois, loses its power when divorced from the show’s behind-the-scenes machinations; “No Doubt About It,” which sets up a climactic standoff at a lavish club party, is essentially a Pitbull throwaway. Only Yazz, who plays sneering rapper-son Hakeem, takes himself lightly, following up Season 1 classic “Drip Drop” with the endearing Auto-Tuned Drake imitation “Bout 2 Blow.”