London’s newest museum space is opening with a powerful statement on music, culture and identity, and it’s doing so with one of the most iconic artefacts in modern British music right at its centre.
At V&A East, the debut exhibition The Music Is Black: A British Story charts 125 years of Black British music, tracing how sounds from across Africa and the Caribbean helped shape everything from jazz and reggae to grime and garage.
It’s a sweeping, deeply considered show, but one object in particular is already grabbing attention: the stab-proof vest worn by Stormzy during his landmark Glastonbury Festival headline set.
Designed by Banksy and emblazoned with the Union Jack, the vest has become a symbol of a defining moment in British music history. When Stormzy became the first Black British solo artist to headline Glastonbury in 2019, the performance wasn’t just about music; it was a pointed, political statement about race, identity and violence in the UK. Placing the vest towards the end of the exhibition, curators use it to underline how Black music in Britain has consistently confronted uncomfortable truths while pushing culture forward.
Curated by Jacqueline Springer, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey that starts long before grime. It explores how genres like jazz and blues evolved from gospel traditions before crossing continents, eventually laying the foundations for modern popular music in both the US and Europe. From there, the show maps how those influences were reinterpreted in Britain, giving rise to distinctly homegrown movements like Two Tone, trip hop and UK garage.
Along the way, there are some striking artefacts. A battered upright piano belonging to Winifred Atwell, covered in graffiti left by fans, tells the story of the first Black artist to score a UK number one single. Elsewhere, handwritten lyrics from Michael Jackson, stage outfits from Seal and Poly Styrene, and a childhood guitar belonging to Joan Armatrading all help paint a picture of influence that stretches across generations.
The exhibition also digs into the UK’s reggae roots, spotlighting bands like Aswad and the wider Windrush generation, showing how their experiences in Britain shaped entirely new sounds. Those foundations, the show argues, directly led to the explosion of genres like drum and bass, jungle and grime, movements that now define British music globally.
There’s a strong interactive element too. Visitors are given responsive headsets that adapt as you move through the space, effectively creating a personalised soundtrack that evolves from early jazz clubs through to pirate radio and modern club scenes. It’s a smart way of reinforcing the exhibition’s core idea: that Black music isn’t a side note in British culture, it’s the backbone of it.
That point is backed by industry data cited in the exhibition, which highlights how Black music has driven a significant share of the UK music industry’s economic success over the past few decades. But more importantly, the show focuses on the human stories behind that influence, the artists who created, innovated and often fought to be heard.
By the time you reach Stormzy’s vest, the context is clear. It isn’t just a piece of stagewear; it’s part of a much longer story about protest, creativity and cultural identity in Britain.
As opening statements go, it’s a strong one, setting the tone for what the Victoria and Albert Museum clearly hopes will be a landmark new space for East London.
You can check out the new exhibition, Music Is Black: A British Story, when it opens at the V&A East Museum on Saturday, 18th of April.
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