WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Rapper Kendrick Lamar has become the first non-classical or jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.
The Californian rapper won the prize for his album Damn, released in April 2017.
The Pulitzer Prize Board considered him for 'distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States' during 2017.
It described the Recording, released on April 14, 2017, 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, 30, will get a cash award of $15,000.
Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated rapper Kendrick Lamar is one of the rare artists who has achieved critical and commercial success while earning the respect and support of those who inspired him.
Storytelling has been Lamar's greatest skill and most primary mission, according to Matthew Trammell of Pitchfork. 'To put into (lots of) words what it's like to grow up as he did-to articulate, in human terms, the intimate specifics of daily self-defense from your surroundings. Somehow, he's gotten better'.
The 2018 Pulitzer Prize winners in 14 journalism and seven letters, drama and music categories were announced on Monday.
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