Jay-Z’s recent album 4:44 was easily one of the most talked about hip hop albums of 2017, and rightly so. The album received a whopping 8 Grammy nominations, which is the highest number of nominations of any artist in this year’s upcoming ceremony. The album covers a variety of topics, some of which are very personal subjects involving the private life of Sean Carter. Months after the world was exposed to this intimate collection of songs, Jay-Z finally released a music video to the song “Family Feud”, and it was way more than what anyone could have expected.

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First and foremost, “Family Feud” was a highly unique record off of the album that features Sean’s superstar wife, Beyonce. As if the shear star-power wasn’t enough to attract attention to this record, the topic and lyrical selection took the excitement to the next level. Throughout the song, Jay-Z addresses the affairs he had behind Beyonce’s back during their marriage as well as some solid reflecting on family matters and what elements that go into making a strong and healthy family. After viewing the music video to the song however, these messages cut a little bit deeper and offer up other messages that weren’t so clearly represented in the audio portion of the song.

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Although the original song runs about 4 minutes the video in fact is extended to nearly 8 minutes in length. Directed by filmmaker Ava DuVernay and jam-packed with some of Hollywood’s freshest faces (Rashida Jones, Thandy Newton, Mindy Kaling, Michael B. Jordan and Susan Kelechi Watson to name a few), this music video is basically a short film. In fact, the majority of the video consists of a handful of different scenes scattered throughout different periods of time in the future. The several scenes that unfold are each vastly different and consist of entirely different characters. The song “Family Feud” isn’t even played until the very end, but the story that unfolds before hand is truly a visual masterpiece.

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In one of the most notable scenes we find a room filled with women of diverse cultural backgrounds which is later referred to as ‘the founding mothers’. During this scene we witness an intense discussion unfolding regarding the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution. At this point, it is clear that the story being told is the story of the future of our country if it was lead entirely by women, and the women sitting at this table are in fact our country’s leaders hashing out problems we currently face in society. It was decided that no men were to be shown in this scene to represent the idea of all women holding power, and the actresses involved in this scene took to social media after it’s filming to promote this idea, as well as the overall theme to the song; “nobody wins when the family feuds.”. It is in this scene that we find the bridge between the dystopian tale of the future of our country, with the original idea behind the song “Family Feud”.

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At the head of the table of women leaders sits Susan Kelechi Watson’s character wearing an extravagant white dress. The scene then changes to a setting in a church, with Blue Ivy (Jay-Z and Beyonce’s daughter) being sat in a pew as Jay-Z paces throughout the building. The beat kicks in, and finally the audience is rewarded for their patience with the type of imagery we were expecting from the original song lyrics.

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In the final scene there are plenty of powerful visuals that are aligned ever so perfectly with Jay-Z’s lyrics. Beyonce makes her appearance wearing what appears to be the attire of a priest or deacon, which is very fitting since the only word she sings throughout her guest feature is ‘amen’. We see Jay-Z struggle to speak the words of the song while in church with subtle flashes to him being in confession with Beyonce in place of the priest. Again we hear the phrase ‘nobody wins when the family feuds’ and the idea that started out as a personal pain of Jay-Z’s becomes a universal statement to anyone who is going through conflict with another. Whether it be somebody we love or our arch nemesis, in the end, nobody wins when it comes down to disagreements and deciding upon who is in the right and who is in the wrong.