jay z friends remake

Screenshot via Jay Z/YouTube

Jay Z’s ‘Moonlight’ video is a bleak, all-Black ‘Friends’ parody

This is not your average 'Friends' episode.

 

Christine Friar

Streaming

Posted on Aug 11, 2017   Updated on May 22, 2021, 8:55 pm CDT

Earlier this month, Jay Z teased a new music video that looked like a remake of Friends, and now it’s finally up on YouTube.

Insecure‘s Issa Rae plays Rachel, with standup Jerrod Carmichael as her Ross. Girls Trip‘s Tiffany Haddish, Westworld‘s Tessa Thompson, Atlanta‘s Lakeith Stanfield, and Get Out‘s Lil Rel Howery round out the all-star cast as Phoebe, Monica, Chandler, and Joey, respectively. Plus, Master of None executive producer (and longtime Aziz Ansari collaborator) Alan Yang directed the clip.

If it sounds like Jay just called everybody whose work he liked this year and asked them to be in a video for him… you’re probably close to right. What a life.

The full-length version of the video is a much less jolly than the teaser led us to believe, though. At one point, Hannibal Buress visits the sitcom’s set and has a heart-to-heart with Carmichael about what his work means, and things get decidedly more moody after that.

Just like 4:44, the seven-minute “Moonlight” video seems like Jay Z examining his celebrity in a whole new light for the first time.

Something tells us people would still watch this Friends remake, though.

Share this article
*First Published: Aug 11, 2017, 8:54 am CDT