DAMN. Kendrick Lamar Makes History Again.
By: Kayla Pasacreta
Kendrick Lamar, photo via Getty Images
DAMN. Rapper Kendrick Lamar has made history yet again with his Pulitzer album for "DAMN". When Kendrick Lamar isn't wow-ing us with his 11 Grammy Awards and musical masterpieces like the Black Panther soundtrack, he's making history in his free time. It's the first time a rapper has ever won the prestigious award. The Pulitzer committee explained their decision to award the album, calling it "a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life."
Side note: the Grammy's couldn't given Kendrick Album of the Year for "DAMN", but he's out here winning Pulitzer's! Lamar's win showcases the heights of hip-hop and signals toward a country that is starting to recognize the unique value and story-telling behind the previously-overlooked and misunderstood music genre.
The Pulitzer winners were announced Monday afternoon during a ceremony at Columbia University.
Here's the full list of winners:
Journalism
Public Service: The New York Times, for reporting led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker, for reporting by Ronan Farrow.
Breaking News Reporting: The Press Democrat.
Investigative Reporting: The Washington Post.
Explanatory Reporting: The Arizona Republic and USA TodayNetwork.
Local Reporting: The Cincinnati Enquirer.
National Reporting: The New York Times and the Washington Post.
International Reporting: Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters.
Feature Writing: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, freelance reporter, GQ.
Commentary: John Archibald, Alabama Media Group.
Criticism: Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine.
Editorial Writing: Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register.
Editorial Cartooning: Jake Halpern, freelance writer, and Michael Sloan, freelance cartoonist, The New York Times.
Breaking News Photography: Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress.
Feature Photography: Reuters.
Letters, Drama and Music
Fiction: Less, by Andrew Sean Greer
Drama: Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok
History: The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis
Biography or Autobiography: Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser
Poetry: Half-light, by Frank Bidart
General Nonfiction: Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman Jr.
Music: DAMN., by Kendrick Lamar
