Beanie Sigel and Freeway Say Black Fathers Will See Themselves in ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’

PHILADELPHIA: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother may arrive in theaters packaged as a thriller, but for Philadelphia rap veterans Beanie Sigel and Freeway, some of its hardest-hitting moments have little to do with the violence.

They’re about being a father.

Following a community screening held earlier this week with the Philadelphia Film Society, Sigel and Freeway shared their reactions to writer-director Bassam Tariq’s new film, which stars Mahershala Ali as Latif, a devout Muslim, father of three and professional hitman whose life begins unraveling after the death of his wife.

As two artists whose Muslim faith has long been a visible part of their lives and public identities, Freeway and Sigel bring an especially relevant perspective to a film where Islam isn’t simply part of the backdrop. Faith, prayer, grief and the responsibility of raising children sit at the center of Latif’s struggle.

And their takeaway was clear: Black fathers in particular may find plenty of themselves in Ali’s character.

“I think it’s going to be real good for a lot of Black fathers and men, period,” they said during the post-screening conversation. “Just, you know, the struggles that you face in life with being a hands-on father and being there.”

That fatherhood story is what separates Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother from a conventional hitman thriller. Latif is grieving his wife while suddenly confronting the reality of raising his children without her, all while wrestling with the contradictions between his profession, his responsibilities and his faith.

“A lot of single fathers are going to appreciate this film,” the Philly rappers said, particularly “people that deal with grief and loss and try to fulfill the shoes of their loved one.”

One reflection cut even deeper: the desire for your children to become better than you, even when you know your own life has fallen short of the example you want to set.

“You always want your children to be better than you,” they said. “Sometimes you might not have been shown the best example, but he definitely wanted his kids to do the best.”

That tension runs throughout Tariq’s film. Latif can be violent and deeply flawed, but he is also intensely committed to his children. The result is a portrait of Black fatherhood that allows both things to exist at once, a father trying to protect his family while confronting the consequences of his own choices.

For Freeway and Sigel, one of the film’s most affecting sequences comes when Latif’s daughter makes dua, an Islamic prayer or supplication, for her father.

“I think the most powerful part of the movie for me was when the daughter was making dua for her father, and then he pulled through,” one of the rappers said.

The moment sparked an especially personal response.

“Me personally, I know how powerful dua is,” he continued. “It’s really like a superpower. It’s like a secret weapon. And we have to believe in that, and we have to put our whole heart in it.”

He then recalled making dua before a trip to Saudi Arabia at a time when passport issues had left him believing he would be unable to make the journey. Despite expecting to simply drive his fellow travelers to the airport and return home, he said he was ultimately able to travel.

“I know the only reason why I got through was because of the dua,” he said.

That kind of spiritual specificity is part of what makes Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother unusual within the action genre. Tariq builds the thriller around a protagonist whose relationship with Islam is complicated but never incidental. Latif struggles with belief rather than existing as a one-dimensional portrait of a religious man.

The film also places Black fatherhood in territory rarely afforded to it on the big screen: vulnerable, frightened, imperfect and fiercely protective.

“I can relate to his character as far as struggling at some points within his faith,” one of the rappers said, while also connecting with Latif “being as hands-on as he was with his children.”

That may ultimately be the movie’s secret weapon. There are hitmen, danger and the mechanics of a crime thriller, but underneath them is a father trying to figure out what happens when the person who helped hold his family together is suddenly gone.

It’s why Freeway and Sigel’s reaction feels less like a celebrity endorsement and more like a review from two men who recognized something familiar on screen.

For Black fathers, particularly those who have experienced loss, struggled with faith or found themselves trying to become a better example for their children than the examples they inherited, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother may hit differently.

And at least one of the Philly legends plans to run it back.

“I think it’s going to be dope,” he said. “I’m gonna watch it a few times.”

Written and directed by Bassam Tariq, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother stars Mahershala Ali alongside John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali and Adia. The film expands nationwide in theaters today, October 16.