JAY-Z, Beyoncé & Blue Ivy Show How When A Family Feuds, Nobody Wins (Video)
JAY-Z’s latest 4:44 video is now available for all to view. “Family Feud” is one of the Grammy-nominated album’s richest and most significant moments. The single addresses the infidelity that nearly cost the Carters their marriage. The No I.D.-produced song also alludes to the efforts to rebuild the trust, the love, and the foundation that made Jay and Beyoncé one of the biggest role-model unions for 15 years.
Hov’, Bey’, and Blue Ivy all appear in the accompanying cinematic visual, directed by Oscar-winning Ava Duvernay.
It opens with this James Baldwin quote: “The wretched of the earth do not decide to become extinct, they resolve, on the contrary, to multiply: life is their only weapon against life, life is all that they have.”
The video lives in the future, as far ahead as 2444, and working its way back to 2018. In a series of vignettes, it appears to all be about power, morality, and violence.
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The eight-minute sequence begins with a family power-struggle. Like a William Shakespeare play climax, there are two murders, after a fight over the throne. The woman stands alone, with the declaration, “It’s not yours, it’s my throne.
The next sequence follows a co-presidency of the nation, dealing with a scandalous death in one of the families. The nation’s presidents are a Native American woman and a Black man, descendants of powerful families, who the woman says “are all related.”
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A time travel advance plays witness to a “disturbance” in a peaceful area. Vignettes of family crusading are shown. While the family feuds for good (based on the voice-over’s opinion), it’s bloodshed nonetheless.
It is there that a group of women, led by (who is later revealed to be) an adult Blue Ivy, rewrite The Constitution. Showing up two-thirds through the vid’, Jay walks his oldest child down the aisle of a church, while providing her a message: “nobody wins when the family feuds.” Jay then gives confession to Beyoncé, who symbolizes a priestess and queen, just as he’s done in the lyrics to their “Family Feud” collaboration. This part of the short film is present-time, as Jay confesses his sins to his wife and the public, and saves the family, forever changing history.
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As with other 4:44 videos, the cast for this video is all-star. Stars playing parts include Michael B. Jordan, Thandie Newton, Rosario Dawson, Rashida Jones, Jessica Chastain, Mindy Kaling, Omari Hardwick, David Oyelowo, and Constance Wu.