"Family Feud," in which JAY-Z celebrates the black family, is just one of the 4:44 songs to touch on the cheating rumors specifically. And thanks to 4:44, the album's footnotes on Tidal, and JAY-Z's candid New York Times interview, fans were let even further into the Carter's reconciliation process. After all, Beyonce's sixth studio album, Lemonade, definitely helped to seemingly confirm a lot of those rumors in April 2016.
Not that fans didn't already piece together JAY-Z's infidelity. And now with the release of JAY-Z and Beyoncé's "Family Feud" music video, the rapper just may be putting an end to those cheating speculations. After dropping his 13th studio album, 4:44, in June, the artist's lyrical genius and forthrightness about his personal life have been fueling conversations about race, the black family, financial freedom, and infidelity. Susan Kelechi Watson is the chair, reminding the group that “America is a family and the whole family should be free”.JAY-Z couldn't let 2017 end without giving fans something else to obsess over. The narrator reminds us that this is “a time when some thought that making America great was making us afraid of each other”. "America’s founding mothers" debate the amendments - including the right to bear arms and, of course, the Thirteenth Amendment (the outlawing of slavery), which DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated documentary, 13th, is about. The future is femaleĮight women sit around a table and rewrite the constitution in the year 2050. And fourth, that one is a native American woman, which is probably America’s single best antidote to Trump. (If Trump had a co-president, he’d have someone to stop him pressing his big button and then the military could sleep at night without having to check his Twitter for warning signs.) Third, that these co-presidents are black. Second, that it would be fantastic to have co-presidents. First, that this has got to be the best line-up of A-listers for a music video ever. In a scene that shows Jessica Chastain delivering a discourse to the nation’s co-presidents, “Mr and Madame President”, viewers are made aware of four things. A native American woman could be president “It’s my throne,” she says softly, as hulk falls to the floor and Newton lazily wipes the vile remnants of his kiss from her lips. Newton has silently stabbed him in the back with a knife. And then, he stops looking turned on, because he is dying. “Is that good enough for you?” boasts the hulk, looking equally turned on by his own exhibition of strength. “Baby”, she whispers, before taking his gigantic, muscular torso into her weak, helpless embrace. The woman has been saved! Newton pretends to be turned on by this. Upon seeing the trouble, he slowly rolls out of bed, walks over to Jordan and kills him.
While Newton is listlessly allowing herself to be violently shaken by her brother, her lover, still snoozing in bed, finally wakes. Newton, like all women faced with a man having a tantrum, does not react. “Who’s going to take this family seriously when you’re the first face that they see?” says Jordan, sounding like a man who can’t take attractive women seriously, because, they’re so attractive, and his mind is so weak, he just can’t think straight! And then, just to prove his superior, masculine power, Jordan shouts, petulantly, “It should have been me! It should have been me!” Then he shakes her. “You’re a f***ing disgrace,” he roars, as Newton slithers out of bed looking stupendously attractive in a tiny bodysuit, and looking entirely bored. Specifically: he storms into her bedroom swearing furiously. Thandie Newton plays “Jone”, the head of the family, following in the footsteps of (assumedly late) father, and her brother, un-named, but played by Michael B Jordan, is upset. The year is 2444 (a riff on the album title) and the monarchy is in distress.