Earlier this year, Compton rapper, Kendrick Lamar lost the Grammy Award for album of the year to Bruno Mars. His album, ‘DAMN’, is Kendrick’s fourth L
Earlier this year, Compton rapper, Kendrick Lamar lost the Grammy Award for album of the year to Bruno Mars. His album, ‘DAMN’, is Kendrick’s fourth LP, was his third straight to be nominated but ultimately fall short of the trophy, considered by most to be the top prize in popular music. But as luck would have it, he has been given a bigger honour, one that many never even thought would be possible. He received the Pulitzer prize for music, making him not only the first rapper to win the award since the Pulitzers expanded to music in 1943, but also the first winner who is not a classical or jazz musician.
“The time was right,” Dana Canedy, the administrator of the prizes, said. She added: “It shines a light on hip-hop in a completely different way. This is a big moment for hip-hop music and a big moment for the Pulitzers.”
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN’ has sold more than 3.5 million albums, including digital streams, since its release in April 2017. It featured Rihanna and U2, along with kinetic production from Soundwave and Mike WiLL Made-It, among others, topped the charts and was among last year’s most-streamed albums, while also tackling thorny issues both personal and political, including race, faith and the burdens of commercial success. Though his work is often serious Kendrick Lamar, a dense and bruising lyricist, has managed to become a pop-cultural juggernaut as well, performing during halftime of this year’s college football national championship and over seeing the soundtrack for ‘Black Panther.’
