Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation, which just partnered with the NFL to bring more artists to the league, announced a free NFL kick-off concert ahead of the game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers next Thursday.
The show, set to take place on September 5 in Chicago’s Grant Park, will feature performances from rappers Meek Mill and Rapsody, as well as popstar Meghan Trainor. The gig is a part of the NFL’s new social activism program dubbed Inspire Change, which is meant to “support criminal justice reform initiatives.” Trainor, Mill, and Rhapsody are the first three “Inspire Change advocates of the NFL Season,” according to a press release.
The NFL teamed up with Roc Nation in an attempt to fix its image; this past year, a handful of artists declined to perform at the Super Bowl LIII in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who was essentially blacklisted from the league after he kneeled during the National Anthem to protest police brutality.
“We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the Times during the announcement. “I think that’s a core element of our relationship between the two organizations, and with Jay and I personally.”
