Meek Mill, Rapsody and Meghan Trainor will perform on Thursday in Chicago before the N.F.L. opens its 100th season when the Bears host the Green Bay Packers. The artists, who were chosen over a period of months, are the first to perform at an N.F.L. event since the league formed a broad partnership this month with Jay-Z, who will help produce entertainment at the Super Bowl and other prominent N.F.L. events, and support the league’s social activism campaign, Inspire Change.

The N.F.L. Kickoff, which precedes the first game of the season, is typically a celebration of football and the new season. This year’s event has extra meaning because the league is beginning its 100th season and is eager to keep the spotlight on its history.

The N.F.L. hopes that Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s music and sports company, will ensure that it can book the best possible entertainers and help the league move past the controversy that began when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the playing of the national anthem to raise awareness of police brutality against African-Americans and other forms of social injustice.

Meek Mill is a well-known rapper from Philadelphia who is a Roc Nation artist and also an activist for criminal justice reform. He will perform in Grant Park on Chicago’s waterfront on Thursday along with Rapsody, a rapper and also a Roc Nation artist. Rapsody will also join executives from the N.F.L., the Bears, Roc Nation and local leaders at a mentoring session for 65 teenagers at a Chicago community organization. Trainor is a pop singer and songwriter known for her 2014 hit “All About That Bass.”