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Jay-Z “Moonlight” music video re-enacts Friends with black comedians

For everyone who thought 1990s hit sitcom Friends was too unrealistic or too white, Jay-Z and director Alan Yang are here for you.

Yang (Master of None) directed the music video for Jay-Z’s new single, “Moonlight,” which dropped Friday afternoon. It’s a beat-by-beat re-enactment of a scene from Friends, with Jerrod Carmichael as Ross, Issa Rae as Rachel, Lil Rel as Joey, Tiffany Haddish as Phoebe, Lakeith Stanfield as Chandler and and Tessa Thompson as Monica. There’s also a redo of the opening theme/credits, quite impressively all of it, only the Whodini track “Friends” has replaced “I’ll Be There For You” from The Rembrandts. And Hannibal Buress also is on hand to deliver commentary.

You can only see the full music video exclusively on Tidal (Jay-Z’s music streaming platform) for the first week, then it’ll be everywhere else.

For now, enjoy this snippet from Yang.

https://twitter.com/AlanMYang/status/893578634446983169

And these clips and commentary courtesy of Billboard:

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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