“Lockdown” by Anderson .Paak

During the initial wave of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests and the pandemic, Brandon Paak Anderson, operating under the stage name Anderson .Paak, decided to put his project “JEWELZ” on pause to, “absorb and take in what’s going on around us right now,” as he explained in an interview with Genius. “The lyrics just started coming, and we started writing [“Lockdown”] on the spot.”

Paak, a singer-songwriter, rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist, released “Lockdown” on Juneteenth, the national commemoration of slavery’s end. The song is a commentary on the intersection of the COVID-19 borne lockdown and the protests, more specifically, the police’s response to them.

The subdued jazzy melody allows the lyrics to take center stage. In his opening verse, Paak sings, “They opened up fire. Them bullets was flyin’/Who said it was a lockdown/god**** lie.” Throughout the song, Paak comments on the irony of police violence during the pandemic; the world is supposed to be indoors, safe from the pandemic, but instead, people of color are being killed in broad daylight.

Transitioning from singing to rapping, Paak continues, “Sicker than the COVID, how they did him on the ground,” a reference to the murder of George Floyd. He proceeds to facilitate the dialogue of a country reckoning with its anti-Black roots. “Oh, won’t you tell me ’bout the lootin’ what’s that really all about?” he asks. “’Cause they throw away black lives like paper towels.”

All in all, “Lockdown” beautifully—but candidly—encapsulates a collective boiling over point. It’s a broadcast from the front lines, a vivid snapshot of our contemporary restlessness.