The new character shaking things up on “Empire” is a young rapper who goes by the name Freda Gatz. She’s Lucious Lyon’s latest obsession because of her raw talent and rough-around-the-edges persona.
The rhymes come easy for rapper-turned-actress Bre-Z (real name: Calesha Murray). But the hit Fox show is a long way from her first career path: working as a barber.
Cutting hair is the family business; her father and grandfather both made their living as barbers, and the 28-year-old says, “I picked up the clippers and knew what I was doing when I was 10 years old. It was just something that was in me. Nobody had to teach me anything.”
She primarily cut men’s hair, preferring the ease with which you can get them in and out of the barber’s chair, and quickly built a reputation in Atlanta, where she worked at Pro Cuts for eight years. It was a natural fit. “I loved the atmosphere,” she says. “I loved the conversations.”
During that time, she went to the recording studio used by Ludacris, who had a role as a prison guard this season on “Empire,” to cut the hair of the men working there.
“Whatever they asked for, I gave them,” says Bre-Z, who also cut rapper Akon’s hair. “There was the time when the Mohawk was big. There was a time when the blowout cut was the favorite. The guys might get the same haircut three weeks straight, then the fourth week they want something completely different. As soon as you get in the swing, they want to change it up. But the customer is always right.”
While she was cutting hair, she was also developing her talents as a rapper, and that’s how she came to the attention of “Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels, who reached out to Bre-Z after someone recommended her for the show. “Being an actress was not on my radar,” she says. “I spend my time making my music.”
Nevertheless, the exposure afforded by a gigantic hit show has been a life-changing experience for Bre-Z.
“It’s a great moment that’s made people pay more attention to what I’m doing,” she says. “I’m never just sitting on my butt, eating sunflower seeds. Music, I’m always doing that. It’s a stress reliever. It’s a form of therapy.”