Kendrick Lamar’s Historical Pulitzer Prize Win

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On April 16, Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his fourth LP, “DAMN.” This would be the first non-classical and non-jazz work to win the award.

“The significance of the prize is in its announcement that the terms of engagement have fundamentally changed; the terrain of cultural struggle has shifted,” said Shana Redmond, associate professor of musicology and African-American studies. “The long-held lie of high and low cultures is not to be believed, nor is the common sense that experts determine value.”

Kendrick Lamar currently has 11 Grammy Awards. Now he has the prestigious Pulitzer Prize to go with them. The board’s decision was unanimous.

The board described the album as “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”

Ted Hearne, whose cantata “Sound From the Bench” was a finalist, praised the decision to award the Pulitzer to Mr. Lamar, calling him “one of the greatest living American composers, for sure.”

This event is historical. Kendrick Lamar was the first rapper to receive the award.