Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, takes its name from June 19, 1865, the day General Gordon Granger and Union troops finally arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced to slaves in the state that they were freean entire two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order outlawing slavery in the United States. Though Juneteenth has been observed by many Black Americans since 1866, often with parades, picnics, and other celebrations, its declaration as a federal holiday in 2021 has highlighted both the continued tragic effects of chattel slavery and the irreplaceable contributions of Black Americans and the descendants of slaves. In observance of that ideal, Apple Music celebrates Juneteenth 2022 with Freedom Songs, a collection of exclusively commissioned new songs from Black creatives like Elena Pinderhughes, Kranium, Lupe Fiasco, Alex Isley, 6LACK, and Brittney Spencer, to name a few. Some have contributed original compositions, while others have chosen to cover existing songs that speak to the spirit of the holiday. Listen to the stories their selections tell as we celebrate Juneteenth and the invaluable legacy of Black music.

*Bun B, This Is What We Do* If you didnt know me and you heard this song, at the very least you would see that Im about family, Im about tradition, Im about legacy and heritage, Bun B says of This Is What We Do, his contribution to Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022. And that you should be, too. Because Juneteenth is not justobviously, its an African American historical event, but its also just American. Juneteenth is a way of acknowledging, Yes, this happened in America. Yes, we started the process of dissolving it, but it was a very slow and steady process that is still not fully formed. We always have to be aware of that.

*Elena Pinderhughes, Get Away*For Juneteenth 2022, California-born singer and flautist Elena Pinderhughes wrote Get Away, which speaks to the gratitude she has for being able to free her mind. Ive been celebrating how people are breaking out of boundaries, creating new ways of being and making, Pinderhughes says. Ive been celebrating the increased conversation around the importance of Black mental health and self-care and the ways that we are demanding our rights to it. I continue to celebrate the power of Black women and the change that we make. I also think of the words of the poet Lucille Clifton: Come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.

*Alex Isley, We Are One*R&B singer-songwriter Alex Isley chose to take on We Are One by Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly, because their music is just so celebratory and filled with so much joy. Juneteenth, in particular, is a holiday on which Isley says she can look inward and appreciate her journey as a Black creative. Theres power in my authenticity, and Im just grateful for life, Isley says. I am a daughter, Im a mother, Im a friend. So, just practicing gratitude, I think thats a big part of Juneteenth: the gratitude and celebration of who we are and the pride of that and the beauty and the richness of our culture and our power.

*Lupe Fiasco, Galveston*I try to make things that establish emotion and utility so that not only can people feel it, but they can actually do something with it, Lupe Fiasco says. Theres only so much utility you can have in music, but it all boils back down to education and instruction. For Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022, Fiasco created Galveston, a song that forces us to reckon with the unimaginably high cost of freedom. Galveston is about taking Juneteenth, which is normally a celebration of a very specific set of eventsthe manumission from slavery of Black folksand approaching it from a different angle, Fiasco says. Looking at it as the impact of it, versus the event. And one of the impacts of Juneteenth was that the abolition of slaveryit introduced all of this other extra tension and new realities, and some of those new realities werent that good. So, 1865, you get abolition of slavery, Emancipation Proclamation, all that good stuff, end of the Civil War. But that same year, you also get the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. So, to me, it was a life-and-death type thing where death was brought to one thing, but then it created lifeit gave birth to another thing.

*Eladio Carrion, El Sol Va a Salir*For his contribution to Freedom Songs 2022, Puerto Rican MC Eladio Carrin created El Sol Va a Salir, a song inspired by one of the greatest hip-hop storytelling tracks of all-time. I did this song with [producer] Vinylz, and the second I heard the beat, it gave me a vibe of the Eminem Stan song that he writes to a fan, Carrin says. I thought it would be a cool ideasince I have a few friends that are in jail right nowto make a song as if someone was in jail writing to their family members. It could be an innocent person or someone that regrets what they did. And its just the person saying, I know things are bad right now, but I know that the suns going to come up, and theyre going to be good days.

*Jlin, I Am*If I Am was the only song that someone ever heard from me, I would just want them to feel my vulnerability, Indiana-hailing DJ and producer Jlin says. Its a percussion conversation. In African culture, drums are a form of communication. They were before and after colonization, so I just wanted to hone in on that and just have a conversation with percussion.

*SEB, Paranoia*For Chicagoans of a certain age, the influence of Chance the Rapper was inescapable. LA-based singer and producer SEB, who spent some of his formative years in Chicago, chose to cover Chance and Nosaj Things Paranoia for Freedom Songs 2022 for that very reason. I picked Paranoia because it just brings me back to Chicago, SEB says. I first heard that song when I started traveling to the South Side for school, so that really made it hit hard. It was two very different environments going from the North Side to the South Side every day. I decided to totally reproduce the song to paint a better picture of what I was seeing.

*Kranium, Revolution*For his contribution to Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022, Kranium covered Dennis Browns Revolution, a 1983 song the Jamaican singer notes is as relevant today as it ever was. A lot of stuff that is being said in that song is actually something that we are living with until this day, he says. The choice to cover Brown was also a means of bridging the gap between the dancehall of today and the reggae Kranium was raised on. Growing up, Dennis Brown was one of our favorite singers, he says. Thats the Crown Prince of Reggae. Were considered the new-school singers, so I wanted to make sure that I keep it 100 percent pure and real, showing respect to the great Dennis Brown but still putting my own Kranium swing into it.

*Cautious Clay, Been in the Way*I was really trying to capture the many things that can be in the way of allowing us to relate to each other and the people that we care about, Cautious Clay says of Been in the Way." "I kind of come in hot with religion, [with] wrist blood being sort of a signifier of Jesus and how organized religion can sort of have its negatives in some cases and is sometimes used for power rather than for actual spirituality. And then I move on to rose gold, which in many ways signifies wealth and beauty and how that can get in the way of relationships with depth. So, its all things that we face in our lives that I find super important.

*Denzel Curry, 1st Quarter*For his contribution to Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022, Florida MC Denzel Curry created 1st Quarter, a song he says is about celebrating how far hes already come in his young life. Its an accomplishment to make it through the first quarter of my life, Curry says. Especially as a Black man in America. When it comes to the type of legacy hed like to leave behind and even how his supporters can ensure their own, his advice is simple: Do what you do, do whats right, and be legendary.

*6LACK, Umi Says*When I hear the word legacy, I think of purpose, I think of what you leave on this earth when youre no longer physically here, the impact you make, the lives you change, the stories that youve created, 6LACK says. For Freedom Songs 2022, the Atlanta crooner covered Mos Defs 1999 classic Umi Says, a choice he claims was a no-brainer when a manager suggested it to him and his team. My brother Forward Slash led the way with the soundscape, 6LACK says, and I just came through and did my best cover.

*Brittney Spencer, More Than Perfect*Growing up, I didnt see a lot of peoplein fact, anybodydoing what Im doing today, country singer Brittney Spencer says, commenting on the traditional lack of Black faces in country. I didnt realize until my adult years that that sort of image has shaped what I thought I could do in the world, who I could be in the world, and knowing that if maybe even one person is seeing what Im doing today, they might decide a lot quicker than I did that they can actually go for something thats really on their heart. For Juneteenth 2022, Spencer cooked up More Than Perfect, a song focused on inner beauty. Its about not putting so much weight and stock into appearance as if it could ever tell the full story of who a person is, she says. An artful display of fashion and tattooswhich I haveand makeup and filters and all these things, it will never tell you about someones character, their dreams, their aspirations, the things they care about, the people they care for. Itll never tell you the whole story because it just simply cant.

*Moliy, The Place*I love being appreciated for what I do and how far Ive come, Moliy says. Theres so much that Im yet to see and do, but just knowing anything can happen at any moment of my journey as an artist is really exciting. In my world, every song I create is literally a stepping-stone to building my legacy. For Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022, the Ghanaian American singer created The Place, a song about the kind of society we all dream about living in. The Place is about hope and wanting to belong somewhere safe, Moliy says. Somewhere that love and light reigns, where everyone can thrive without the need to do evil and knowing theres like-minded people out there who all want the same.

*WSTRN, Free Your Mind*UK collective WSTRN delivered Free Your Mind, a song they say is about overcoming adversity. Its about acknowledging the power of unity and being free, vocalist Haile says. Accepting that obstacles will cross your path but knowing that holding onto faith can always get you through anything. Louis Rei adds that he wanted to speak to people destined for bigger things but who might not yet understand their own potential. My verse, especially, is targeting those that have a light within them, but they come from a dark place, he says. And its very much reflective of that and asking oneself questions to attain greatness and overcoming and becoming the higher vibration of yourself.

*Damien Sneed, Sequestered Thoughts*Juneteenth is observed as a celebration, Damien Sneed says. For me, its also a moment to understand and recognize the plight of my ancestors and all of those from the African diaspora and the African American diasporaI am celebrating the moment in time to use my art, my creativity, my musical voice, to give voice to those who dont have a voice. For his contribution to Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022, the pianist and composer wrote Sequestered Thoughts, a piece he says was born of isolation but that might bring people together in its expression of everyones need to have their humanity recognized. The pandemic was a jolt for me, Sneed says. I had just finished a 40-city tour, and I was at home alone in New York City, sequestered in place. This composition is meant to evoke confinement, hope, and the will to survive. Also, it represents something that was birthed out of the untimely murder of George Floyd. So, the piece also resonates with protests against all types of violence, racism, and oppression.

*Koryn Hawthorne, I Need You Now*Anytime I record a cover, I always do my best to try to make sure I put a little bit of myself into it, Koryn Hawthorne says. I feel like weve done a good job of that on this record. It has slight R&B vibes, but it still has the true heart of worship in it. Hawthorne, a gospel vocalist who can also boast having once earned a spot as a finalist on The Voice, chose Smokie Norfuls I Need You Now for her contribution to Apple Musics Freedom Songs 2022. The song, she says, will only ever bring her good memories: I am a huge Smokie Norful fan. This song, in particular, has been a staple throughout my entire life. I feel like, at any given moment, I could play this song and be taken back to a special place.

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Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs on Apple Music