‘Empire’: Petey Pablo says Terrence Howard gave him a cameo instead of paying him $200

North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo made a surprising appearance in this week’s Empire and the story behind the cameo is surprising in itself.

During an interview with his hometown station WRAL, Pablo revealed that he suddenly heard from Empire star Terrence Howard earlier this year with an interesting proposal.

A decade ago at a party for Hustle & Flow, Howard loaned the “Freek-A-Leek” rapper $200 and they never heard from each other until Howard called him this year. Howard never forgot that he owed Pablo. But instead of just payiing him, Howard invited him to Empire to make a cameo.

As Vulture points out, Pablo ended up playing a musical collaborator for Lucious Lyon (Howard) behind bars. Pablo also wrote four songs for Empire.

Pablo does have one wish. He really doesn’t want his character to die on the show.

Empire airs Wednesdays on Fox at 9 p.m.

Here’s one of the songs Pablo contributed: