Jussie Smollett Raises Anticipation For ‘Empire’ Season 3 With ‘Need Freedom’ Song

The third season of FOX TV’s hit series ‘Empire’ will premiere on Wednesday, September 21st. In anticipation of the upcoming launch, Jussie Smollett (Jamal) gives us a taste of the show’s new music with ‘Need Freedom.’

Created by Smollett, Rodney Jerkins, and Ester Dean, ‘Need Freedom’ was born from a ‘Free Freda’ campaign “as she’s locked up in jail,” states Jerkins. “But once I sat down with Jussie, we started talking about everything going on in the country,” he adds.

“I recorded this exactly seven days after Philando Castile was shot,” Smollett told Billboard. “Between the shootings of Castile, Alton Sterling, at the Pulse in Orlando and the police officers in Dallas — not to mention the other numerous killings over the last couple of years — it was like we couldn’t breathe. What are we doing as a people, a nation; what messages are we sending to the next generation. Then this song came.”

Adds Jerkins, “…we ended up with two versions of the song for the show, ‘Need Freedom’ and ‘Free Freda.'”

“Need Freedom” will be available on iTunes tomorrow (Sept. 16).