Giovanni

Released in October 2018 as a standalone single before appearing on Jamila Woods's 2019 album Legacy! Legacy!, “GIOVANNI” was written by Jamila Woods, Barron Bollar, Aminata Burton and Ralph Gene. The recording was produced by SLOT-A, with additional keys by Ami, live drums by Ralph Gene, and mixing and mastering by Michael Kolar for Closed Sessions. “GIOVANNI” introduced the ancestral and literary framework of Legacy! Legacy!, drawing inspiration from Nikki Giovanni's poem “Ego Tripping.” Woods described the song as a statement of self-ownership, lineage and inherited strength, and its video extended that theme through appearances by her family and Chicago creative community. The song became one of the defining early markers of Woods's Legacy! Legacy! era, an album later widely praised for its portraits of Black artists, writers and cultural figures. It remains a key example of Woods's fusion of personal autobiography, poetry and Black feminist tribute.