alan yang

Jay-Z Has an All Black Version of “Friends” Starring Jerrod Carmichael and Issa Rae in His Music Video for “Moonlight”

Well, there’s a lot to unpack here.

Jay-Z has plenty of layers to his brand new album 4:44 and the same goes for each song and accompanying music videos. 

“Moonlight”, which features an sound byte from this year’s Oscars SNAFU when Moonlight and La La Land got mixed up for winners for Best Picture, has a music video that preempts the song with a big scene from a classic episode of Friends, but done with a cast of all famous black actors and comedians:

Jerrod Carmichael as Ross
Issa Rae as Rachel
Lil Rel Howery as Joey
Lakeith Stanfield as Chandler
Tessa Thompson as Monica
Tiffany Haddish as Phoebe

Before they go into a full remake of the episode, the song kicks in as the aspect ratio changes and a much more somber tone pervades the video. You might have to watch it a few times to even grasp how you feel about it and what you’ll take away from it in terms of black representation and visibility on both the big and small screens. 

Also, there are outtakes that could stand alone on their own and also happen to include Hannibal Buress. 

On top of all of that, Master of None co-creator Alan Yang got to direct the whole thing. 

Take all of Jay-Z’s music video for Moonlight here.