The BLM movement
Music has played a crucial role in the Black lives matter (BLM) movement. A brief history of BLM would suffice for context. BLM is a social movement that advocates against equal rights and opportunity among the black community. BLM activists also actively protest against police brutality and violence unfairly directed towards people of color in the USA and worldwide. The BLM movement supporters and protestors mainly express themselves through physical marching demonstrations coupled with digital activism over social media platforms (George, & Leidner, 2018).
The BLM movement saw its advent in 2014 following the acquittal of a white man who had allegedly murdered a black man (Lebron, 2017). At its infancy, for the most part, the movement was more passive until the wake of 2020 when CCTV footage that captured a Minneapolis police with his knee on the neck of a black man identified as George Floyd surfaced online. Following the brutality and subsequent death of Floyd, scores around the world were exasperated. Several celebrities and activists came out to condemn the act. Amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, supporters of the black lives matter movement braved the respiratory disease to march on the streets to protest against police brutality towards an unarmed black man.
Since the BLM movement conception, music has emerged as the focal point for the protests against police brutality and advocacy for racial equality (Maultsby, 2018). In particular, musicians have taken the forefront to use their limelight to condemn police brutality towards the black community and preach racial equality through songs laden with anti-racism message. Hitherto, there is a wealth of tracks that best embody the BLM movement while some even qualify to be BLM anthems.