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Music Pulitzer for rapper Lamar

The board of the Pulitzer Prize paid tribute to rapper Kendrick Lamar, pictured, for his skill in telling the story of the African-American experience, awarding him the Pulitzer Prize for Music this week.

With the Pulitzer, the 30-year-old from the historically deprived Los Angeles community of Compton joins the leagues of celebrated American composers such as Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and John Adams. The Pulitzer board, which also gives literature and journalism awards, gave Lamar the prize for DAMN, an exploration of the classic hip-hop sound by the artist who has shifted gears musically with each album.

The Pulitzer board described DAMN 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”.

“DAMN, which reached number one on the US albums chart, moves forward the conversation about race that Lamar started on his previous album, To Pimp a

Butterfly, which infused jazz and spoken words and gave voice to the Black Lives Matter movement. DAMN opens with Lamar addressing his cultural role indirectly with a snippet from a conservative talk show criticising his lyrics against police brutality, which he again raises in the track XXX, a reflection on the meaning of America that features U2.”

The Pulitzer board rarely awards mainstream music, last year giving the prize to the experimental opera composer Du Yun. But in the mid-1990s it introduced changes to make the award more inclusive. It has given the prize previously to jazz artists including Wynton Marsalis and Ornette Coleman. Hip-hop also has been recognised by the Pulitzer board in the drama category with Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s modern retelling of America’s founding fathers, winning in 2016. –