Compton's Own Kendrick Lamar Wins Pulitzer Prize For 'Damn'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — Grammy-winning rapper and Compton native Kendrick Lamar has won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his album "Damn."
It's the first non-classical or jazz work to win the award.
The Pulitzer board on Monday called the album a work that captures the complexity of African-American life.
Judges hailed Lamar's 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."
Lamar has been praised and lauded for his deep lyrical content, remarkable live performances, and his profound mix of hip-hop, spoken word, jazz, soul, funk, poetry and African sounds.
His major-label albums "good kid, m.A.A.d city," ''To Pimp a Butterfly" and "DAMN." became works of art, with Lamar writing songs about blackness, street life, police brutality, perseverance, survival and self-worth.
His piercing raps helped him become the voice of the generation, and easily ascend as the leader in hip-hop and cross over to audiences outside of rap, from rock to pop to jazz.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)