Freedom is an anthem dedicated to black women. The song brings Beyoncs visual album to an apex with the scene hope and features the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner pictured with photos of their deceased sons.
Throughout the song, Beyonc alludes to herself as a force of nature who can empower other women like herself to break free of the bonds society places on them. She addresses her struggle with infidelity as a black woman, as well as alluding to the history of slavery inflicted upon African-Americans, including current issues and the Black Lives Matter movement. Beyonc and her writers, musicians, and producers sonically reference the musical memories of all those periods.
Beyonc is joined by Kendrick Lamar in their first ever collaboration. While Beyonc focuses on womens issues, Kendrick continues to touch on institutionalized racism, a major theme of his critically acclaimed 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly. However, Kendrick also brings women to the forefront, alluding to 2Pacs Dear Mama and Ride 4 Me while sending a message of empowerment to his own mother.
In Kendricks verse, he employs a style of writing that counts down from ten to five, before switching to a syllable count to further the countdown. This gives the impression that Kendrick is counting down towards something significant. Within context of the song (and the final bars of the verse), Kendrick is likely counting down to freedom from oppression. Yasiin Bey employs a similar writing style on Mathematics.
Along with issues affecting black women, social equality justice are major motifs of this song.
Producer Just Blaze told the Rap Radar podcast that Beyonc came to him with the Let Me Try sample by Kaleidoscope and an already completed demo.
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