For his latest, Anderson .Paak joins the protest with his soulful cut “Lockdown,” which sees him giving the listeners his perspective on the protests turned riots, which all came to light following the tragic deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Over production from .Paak and J.LBS, the Cali multi-talents touches on COVID-19, looting, getting hit with rubber bullets, and more:

We was tryin’ to protest, then the fires broke out, look out for the secret agents, they be planted in the crowd, said, “It’s civil unrest,” but you sleep so sound, like you don’t hear the screams when we catchin’ beatdowns/

Stayin’ quiet when they killin’ n***as, but you speak loud, when we ride, got opinions comin’ from a place of priv’, sicker than the COVID, how they did him on the ground/

Speakin’ of the COVID, is it still goin’ around? Oh, won’t you tell me ‘bout the lootin’ what’s that really all about?/”

The accompanying visual sees him alongside fellow peers like SiR, Dumbfounded, Syd, and Jay Rock, all of whom look like they’re going through the motions following a protest turned violent. At some point, Jay Rock delivers a poem interlude, further adding to the importance of the overall message:

“Turn on your tube dawg, look how they do us, knee on our necks, bullets in backs, stimulus checks strictly for blacks/

History repeat, people scared to each a chicken, everybody goin’ vegan, what they put in it?/

Look at the world we livin’ in, they got it shook, and then you go on your jog, then your color might get you took/

And yet the man in the mirror, can’t look away, you gotta look at it, Black Lives Matter, so what it means when they shoot at it?/”

Press play on “Lockdown” below.