Anderson .Paak Reflects on Racial Injustice in Video for Protest Song ‘Lockdown’

Anderson .Paak gathers with friends as he reflects on racial injustice, police brutality, unemployment and COVID-19 in the new video for his protest song, “Lockdown.”

The Dave Meyers-directed clip includes cameos from .Paak’s son Soul Rasheed, Jay Rock, Andra Day, Syd of the Internet, Sir, Dominic Fike and others. The visual also features a devastatingly long list of Black people who have been killed, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.

“Stayin quiet when they killin’ niggas/But you speak loud when we riot, got opinions comin from a place of privilege/Sicker than the COVID, how they did him on the ground/Speaking of the COVID is it still goin around?/Oh why don’t you tell me ’bout the lootin’ what’s that really all about?,” he raps. “‘Cause they throw away Black lives like paper towels/Plus unemployment rate what? 40 million now/Killed a man in broad day, might never see a trial/We just wanna break chains like slaves in the south/Started in the north end but we ended downtown/Riot cops tried to block, now we got a showdown.”

As the video states in its final moments, the cast and crew who participated in the “Lockdown” video donated their salaries to Black Emotional and Mental Health collective (BEAM), Dream Defenders and Color of Change. .Paak House also made donations to Action Bail Fund LA, Atlanta Solidarity Fund and Albany Bail & Safety Fund for Black Lives.