Kendrick Lamar becomes first non-jazz or classical artist to win Pulitzer Prize

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 August, Lamar spoke to Rolling Stone about his creative mindset behind DAMN. “The initial 

goal was to make a hybrid of my first two commercial albums,” he said.

“That was our total focus, how to do that sonically, lyrically, through melody – and it came out 

exactly how I heard it in my head. … It’s all pieces of me. My musicality has been driving me since

 I was four years old. It’s just pieces of me, man, and how I execute it is the ultimate challenge. 

Going from To Pimp a Butterfly to DAMN., that shit could have crashed and burned if it wasn't 

executed right. So I had to be real careful on my subject matter and how I weave in and out of the 

topics, where it still organically feels like me.” 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.