Watch JAY-Z's Subversive 'Friends'-Based Video For "Moonlight" Here
Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield, Jerrod Carmichael recreate an epsiode for Hov.
JAY-Z’s video for “Moonlight” has now been released on YouTube, a week after it hit Tidal’s platform as an exclusive. The central premise of the video — which stars Issa Rae, Lil Rel Howery, Jerrod Carmichael, Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish — is an alternate take on Friends. The video clip, which also stars Hannibal Burress, is directed by Alan Yang, a co-director of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None. Yang spoke with Vulture about the video, noting how the video came to be and how the treatment affected JAY-Z
“It all happened so fast. Chaka came back to New York and I had to sell her on it a little bit because it’s such an insane idea. I don’t think she was super familiar with Friends, it’s not her jam, but I was like, “trust me, it’s a very popular show and this will be a weird but interesting thing for us to work on. It’s a provocative idea and I really believe in it.” So she sent the treatment to Jay and, I don’t know if this is true, but she said he really liked it. And then later, when we were deep into production, she pulled me aside and told me that after he finished reading the treatment, he felt like he wanted to cry. That’s a good sign!”
JAY also recently released a behind-the-scenes video for these latest visuals, which you can see here. You can also watch the version with outtakes below.
