Michael Rainey Jr. had looked up to the rapper 50 Cent since he was 8 years old. So when he landed the opportunity to work with him (real name: Curtis James Jackson III) on the Starz crime drama “Power,” he couldn’t have been more excited.
“Once I heard 50 Cent, my eyes just lit up,” Mr. Rainey said.
For the past 10 years, he has been an actor in the “Power” universe — first in the original series, which ran for six seasons, and now as the star of the spinoff “Power Book II: Ghost.” He plays Tariq St. Patrick, the student-turned-drug-dealer son of the original series’ lead character, Ghost.
“He’s basically raised on lies, so he really grew up with trust issues,” Mr. Rainey, 23, said of his character. “He has the smarts, but I feel like he’s just a product of his environment, of where he grew up and the kind of family that he was raised in.”
In the fourth, and final, season of “Power Book II: Ghost,” which premieres on June 7, Mr. Rainey says fans can expect “nonstop, high-stakes action.” “It’s like no other season of ‘Ghost,’” he said.
Like his character on “Power,” Mr. Rainey grew up in New York. An only child, he was born to Shauna Small and Michael Rainey Sr. in Louisville, Ky., and raised on Staten Island.
“The environment and culture of New York have always been a part of my life growing up here, and made it easier to relate to my character in ‘Power’ and bring my genuine experiences to my performance,” Mr. Rainey said.
He landed his first role at 11 years old in the Italian film “Un altro mondo,” which led to appearances in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black,” Ice Cube’s “Barbershop: The Next Cut” and Lee Daniels’s “The Butler.”
Mr. Rainey Jr. lives alone in a loft in Jersey City, N.J., although he often has family members staying with him.
FRESH CUT I got a haircut in the morning to start the day. I woke up, brushed my teeth, and then I just got straight in the chair. My barber came to my house. I was half asleep when that was happening. I got a little shape-up, crew cut. I have to look professional for you guys.
TEA TIME I get up, wash the face, brush the teeth, pop in the shower, then I get me a cup of tea. For some reason I love tea. Tea just makes me feel good. For the most part, I really like ginger tea, like honey, ginger and lemon.
CRUISING AROUND I’ll just go in my car, drive around and enjoy the weather and the sound of my car. I love my car, so I be spending a lot of time in my cars. I have multiple. I have a BMW M5, an Audi R8, a Porsche 911 Turbo S, and then I have an old-school E30 BMW. It’s like an ’89, I believe.
CAR CAFE Sunday Motor Co., it’s like a super cool little restaurant-cafe, and every Sunday they have a car-meet thing. People come with their cars, and then they eat food. I had super fire chili eggs. Then there was this guy, and I always see his car when I go to Sunday Motor Co., but I never see him. So, I finally saw him and put a face to the car, and we had a pretty good conversation. He has a BMW-only car club, and I’m part of it now because he thinks I’m cool.
STUDIO SESSION We went to the studio, but I forgot my laptop at home. For the most part, when I’m in the studio, I’m just chilling with my friends, making beats, recording music with my friends. Then I have other producer friends that make beats, so we’ll be collaborating, making beats together. It’ll be four or five of us just making one beat, just going crazy, adding a million sounds, just seeing what works.
COFFEE BREAK When I am filming, I love coffee. The amount of coffee I drink when I’m filming is bad. You get a fire latte with oat milk. That’s fire. I ain’t going to lie to you. I’ll be going to Gregorys, and the coffee is pretty all right.
KNICKS NIGHT I went to the Knicks [Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers]. The Knicks lost. I was so sad. But at halftime, I got me a good burger. I had my Daily Burger. Yo, Daily Burgers are so good. I don’t know why they’re so good, but they’re so simple and so good. After the game, I didn’t have an appetite because we lost.
VIDEO GAMES I mostly play video games over watching TV. I love playing Call of Duty on Sundays. It’s a great way for me to get to hang out virtually with all of my friends, because we all play together. It’s not just about the game itself, but the social aspect of connecting and spending time with my friends, even when we can’t be together in person.
SHOWER HOUR I’ll be in the shower forever. Maybe an hour and 20 minutes, maybe an hour and a half. I like the steam and just feel like I’m in a cloud of relaxation.
