Songfacts®:

• "Lockdown" finds Anderson Paak singing about the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd. Paak wrote the song while watching the protests on the news and released it on Juneteenth (June 19), a day celebrating the end of slavery in the US.
• COVID-19, a plunging economy and police brutality were three big topics in America in June 2020. Paak reflects on the convergence of the three issues.
  
  Sicker than the COVID how they did him on the ground
  Speakin' of the COVID, is it still goin' around?
  And won't you tell me 'bout the lootin'? What's that really all about?
  'Cause they throw away black lives like paper towels
  Plus unemployment rate, what, forty million now?
  Killed a man in broad day, might never see a trial
  Sadly, such crises are nothing new in America
• Much of America was still locked down because of the pandemic in June 2020. During the chorus Paak talks about how protesters ignored the quarantine and took to the streets.
  
  You should've been downtown
  The people are risin'
  We thought it was a lockdown
  
  They decided it was important to stand up for what they believe, so they came out of their isolation and rose up. But then they came into conflict with riot cops.
  
  They opened the fire
  Them bullets was flyin'
  Who said it was a lockdown? Goddamn lie
• Anderson admitted to American Songwriter that he wanted to get involved in the protests but was initially afraid of catching Covid. "I was thinking I'm going miss out on the revolution because I'm scared of coronavirus," he said, "so I had to make a song."
  
  Anderson added that it's important for an artist to make music about the things that are going on around them. "You're supposed to have a feeling when you see someone get killed in broad daylight in the streets for no reason, and it's happening all the time," he said. "So when artists speak on it and make these songs, it causes a reaction, and people look at it and feel something. You shouldn't be silent to this. You shouldn't be cool with seeing somebody die in the streets, then have such an opinion about looting."
• The single's cover art lists names of some Black people killed by police and others, including Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
• Dave Meyers directed the video, which shows Paak and some of his musical friends recuperating in a diner after attending a protest. His fellow music luminaries include Jay Rock, Syd of The Internet, SiR, Dominic Fike, Andra Day and Dumbfoundead. The clip also features Jay Rock rapping a verse that's not included on the studio version of "Lockdown."
• This won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance. Accepting the award, Paak said, "This song, 'Lockdown,' is dedicated to every human being that has a voice. If you have a voice, don't be afraid to use it, because they're watching, and this is proof."
  
  At the ceremony, Paak teamed with Bruno Mars for their Silk Sonic collaboration, performing their song "Leave The Door Open."