Abstract
The spring and summer of 2020 saw a resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd—all unarmed Black people killed either at the hands of police or rogue vigilantes. Several artists subsequently released music in support of these protests, using their platforms to raise awareness of the ongoing struggles plaguing Black communities. This thesis focuses on the creative responses of a select few of those artists who included particular chants and slogans from BLM protests (“I Can’t Breathe” and “Arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor”) in their music. I argue that while Black musical artists deploy narratives of protest to speak truth to power, their socially mediated music and imagery also plays a more complex role in addressing Black social trauma, often desensitizing consumers to Black suffering and mortality.
Through analyses of composed music, song lyrics, and music videos, I outline a trend in Black artists’ expression following incidents of police violence and explore how these art forms are created and consumed through social media and other outlets. This ethnography incorporates my personal experience as a participant in a peaceful protest in Miami in order to outline the dynamic soundscape of protests. It also touches on conversations with peers who problematize Black artists’ music. This thesis thus contributes to ongoing discussions pertaining to the representation, commodification, and social “memeification” of Black tragedy, specifically that experienced by Black women in the United States (Halliday 2018, Vandagriff 2016).