American Rapper Kendrick Lamar has broken the records by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album, DAMN. He becomes the first non-classical or jazz artist to receive the honour, Rolling Stone reported. The Pulitzer board announced Lamar’s selection on Monday, calling the 2017 LP “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African American life.”
DAMN. is Lamar’s fourth studio album, the latest in a series of acclaimed and sonically eclectic records. The LP, which has reached double-platinum sales status, was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album at this year’s Grammy awards ceremony.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Literature also crossed over into mainstream pop music, awarding their prestigious medal to Bob Dylan. The singer received a $900,000 prize during a small private ceremony in Stockholm after submitting his speech to the Swedish Academy.
DAMN features artists like Rihanna, U2 and explores some of the themes of his highly-acclaimed 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly — which features the track Alright, a song that became a war cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
