‘Empire’ Brothers Trai Byers, Bryshere Y. Gray & Jussie Smollett Cover Essence

Bryshere Y. Gray, Trai Byers & Jussie Smollett Cover Essence June 2015

The handsome fictional brothers from primetime TV’s tumultuous hip-hop family, Trai Byers , Bryshere “Yazz” Gray and Jussie Smollett , grace Essence Magazine June 2015.

The Empire stars went boating for publication’s “Vacation Issue,” where they are featured on four separate covers.

Bryshere Y. Gray Covers Essence June 2015

Jussie Smollett Covers Essence June 2015

Trai Byers Covers Essence June 2015

Inside, Trai tells us what motivates him to stay in shape, Yazz shares how he’s connecting to young fans and Jussie reveals the unconventional approach he took to land his role on Empire .

Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett & Bryshere Y. Gray for Essence June 2015

The hit FOX drama broke a 23-year ratings record within a month of its January debut as the only primetime scripted series to grow in total viewers over each of its first five telecasts since at least 1991 in the U.S.

Trai Byers, Yazz and Jussie play the sons of Lucious Lyon ( Terrence Howard ), a drug dealer turned music mogul and Cookie Lyon ( Taraji P. Henson ), his fresh-out-of-prison ex-wife.

During their Essence shoot, the actors also play a game, “Who Goes Off First?” Cookie or Lucious? Watch below.

As of its first season finale, Empire has now surpassed The Big Bang Theory as the highest rated scripted program in the 2014-2015 television season.

It is also the highest rated debut season finale since May 2005, when Grey’s Anatomy ended its first season.

Yazz, a rapper and Jussie, a singer-songwriter both landed recording contracts with Columbia Records before the first season’s end.

The show is set to return for a 18-episode second season that will be divided into two parts: the first airing in September 2015 and the second in Spring 2016.