There’s no stopping Jay-Z and his famous friends. The rapper has released yet another thought-provoking video for his song “Moonlight,” off of his latest album, 4:44. The visual is a remake of the popular ‘90s series Friends, except now it stars an all-black cast.
The new clip is a parody of Friends, which now features Issa Rae from Insecure as Rachel, Tiffany Haddish from Girls Trip as Phoebe and Tessa Howard from Creed as Monica. The mogul also enlisted actors from the movie Get Out, Lakeith Stansfield as Chandler and Lil Rey Howery as Joey, and The Carmichael Show star Jerrod Carmichael as Ross.
The group is back on a set that looks identical to the famous set from the comedy series, and the cast recreates the intro replacing the classic “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts with “Friends” by Whodini.
Hannibal Buress stars as himself during the clip — appearing as the seventh friend — to tell them that the show is no good because they are remaking a popular show instead of making something authentic.
This theme ties into the song’s lyrics since Jay-Z makes a reference to the now-infamous Oscars mix-up that named La La Land as the Best Picture winner instead of the movie Moonlight. Though it was later corrected and the Academy Award was given to the rightful owners, the moment overshadowed their win and took the spotlight away from the film.
“We stuck in La La Land. Even when we win, we gon’ lose,” he raps.
The video was directed by Alan Yang, cocreator of the popular Netflix series Master of None.
