Anderson .Paak's "Lockdown" Examines the Current Movement, And Why We Can't Let Up

In the month since George Floyd’s murder we have heard from multiple artists who have spoken about the importance of the protests that have followed. R&B singer/rapper Anderson .Paak dropped a track of his own titled “Lockdown” on Juneteenth that not only discussed the protests, but it also talked about other events that are intertwined with the message behind the protests.

Before the protests began we were all still focused primarily on the COVID-19 outbreak, and .Paak himself asks “Speakin’ of the COVID, is it still goin’ around?” which is followed with the question “Plus unemployment rate, what, forty million now?” It’s hard to ignore the role the pandemic and mass unemployment have had in sparking the protests, especially since the virus has disproportionately affected Black communities and the government’s response to providing help to these communities is nowhere to be found.

But .Paak also touches on some of the more Orwellian aspects of the protests that few other artists have pointed out. He notes the “secret agents” planted in the crowd, a reference to the undercover officers that were spotted in the crowd at multiple protests. It could also be a reference to the uniformed officers that were caught on video destroying storefronts likely in an effort to shift the blame to the protestors. Speaking of destroying storefronts, .Paak also brought up incidents of looting and seems to address the fact that the media focused a lot of its attention on the uncommon incidents of looting and ignored the very common incidents of police brutality that took place at these protests. This is not the first time we’ve seen .Paak get political and spit some woke lyrics, but it is certainly one of the most notable. There is also a version of the song that features a very powerful verse from Jay Rock.

Aside from the lyrics, the beat is a typical smooth, funk inspired instrumental that we’ve come to expect from .Paak. While the sereneness of it may not seem like a great compliment to the distressed lyrics, it encapsulates the faint hopeful tone of the track. His final utterance of “we ain't gotta stop 'cause they tell us to” and the cover art for the track which features .Paak holding a sign that says “The People Are Rising” seems to hint at optimism that real progressive changes will come out of these protests, and we have seen small steps taken in the right direction since the protests began. Police department budgets across the country are being slashed with money being reinvested into communities that desperately need the funds, and the country is slowly reckoning with its past as statues of former Confederate generals and Confederate flags are being taken down.

But the cover art also features the names of 39 people who had their lives taken away by those whose duty is to protect and serve. So, while change may seem inevitable at this point, we can not forgot those who lost their lives because these changes were not implemented sooner.

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Irked Music Geek

Report: Michael Rosen