Stormzy’s Stab Vest Becomes Iconic Display in New Exhibition on Black British Music

The V&A East’s inaugural display, The Music Is Black: A British Story, features Stormzy’s bulletproof jacket as a standout artifact. The piece, designed by the renowned street artist Banksy and adorned with the Union Jack, is positioned towards the exhibition’s conclusion, symbolizing music’s role in addressing themes of identity, crime, and discrimination.

Key Exhibits Span Decades and Genres

The exhibit showcases a range of artifacts, from Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar to stage outfits worn by Seal and Poly Styrene, and the handwritten lyrics of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It also highlights the evolution of musical styles, tracing how genres like jazz, reggae, and blues laid the groundwork for distinctly British sounds such as Two Tone, Garage, Trip Hop, and Grime.

Historical Context of Musical Rebellion

“That’s the beauty of street art, of graffiti, of rap music, is that it’s making you think constantly about issues you don’t really want to confront,” says curator Jacqueline Springer. “This is about ambition pursued against legal restriction, against moral and against racial discrimination. What we’re looking at here is the way that art always penetrates, always gets through.”

The exhibition frames Stormzy’s historic Glastonbury headlining as part of a broader narrative of protest and cultural defiance. Before reaching this moment, the gallery guides visitors through a cross-continental journey, illustrating how African and Caribbean music was shaped by colonial influences and then transformed in the UK.

Breaking Barriers with Art

A poignant centerpiece is Winifred Atwell’s battered upright piano, where she composed Let’s Have Another Party—the UK’s first chart-topping single by a Black artist in 1954. The instrument, marked by fans’ graffiti at her request, reflects her impact as a trailblazer who spent 117 weeks in the UK charts and hosted her own TV shows.

“What’s key about Winifred is that her experience with prejudice, both racial and gendered, is that she factored it into her own activism,” Springer adds. “When she was playing, she could look at all of these messages of adoration… the entire instrument is this testimony to not only a particular musical genre, but also her relationship with her fans.”

From Roots to Innovation

The display also includes Jerry Dammers’ original sketches for the 2-Tone label logo and the Nintendo console that grime pioneer JME used to craft early tracks. Another highlight is the dress Dame Shirley Bassey wore for an Oscar tribute to James Bond, a piece secured through Springer’s persuasive charm and wit.

As visitors progress through the exhibit, interactive headsets respond to the environment, blending audio from juke joints, jazz clubs, reggae nights, carnivals, and pirate radio into a personalized DJ mix. The 1970s section spotlights British reggae acts like The Cimarons, UB40, and Aswad, whose music emerged from the cultural shifts of the Windrush generation.

“We didn’t have the sunshine, the palm trees, the mangoes and all those things that inspired Jamaica’s reggae and dub culture,” reflects Tony “Gad” Robinson of Aswad. “We went to British schools. It was cold. So all we could talk about was our experiences here. We didn’t know it at the time, but that was our spearhead.”

Historical venues like the Four Aces in East London played a vital role in nurturing early reggae scenes, which eventually gave rise to genres such as Lover’s Rock, Brit Funk, Drum and Bass, and Garage. The exhibition underscores how these movements are deeply rooted in the legacy of Black British artistry, with seven out of eight identified British-born styles directly descending from this heritage.