#MusicVideoOfTheWeek 9
Adnis stars Moonlight actor Mahershalla Ali and glimpses of Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover. This is a song dedicated to Jay Z's later father Adnis "AJ" Reeves who passed away in June 2003.
The entire music video is shot in black and white and features the main actor shadow boxing. His facial expressions portrays him as distant and the vibe of the video gives you a sense of loneliness. The shadow boxing corresponds to Jay Z expressing his anger towards his father leaving him at a young age. He has said in the past he would write about fighting his father as a means of expressing his emotions. "Jotted on dotted lines, "I'mma fight you, n***a".
You can really tell Jay is longing or reminicisng his father. This video serves as a letter and closure for Jay but also a message for all the people who grew up without their parents to seek conversations that will help them rid of their anger. In his own words "That's the sort of anger that keeps you from love - it makes you put up walls and you don't let people get close to you, because you don't ever want to feel that feeling of abandonment or feeling of hurt again."
This video has some great use of lighting, from the first shot of Mahershalla Ali staring directly into the camera (0:04), when he is going down the elevator (0:11). My favourtie shot has to be when Danny Glover stands in the walk way in silhouette (1:43). The choice of black and white fits really well with the story of the music, the sense of lonliness, closure and reminiscing.
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