Kendrick Lamar is already a history-making, mic-controlling, master of ceremony after having earned 11 Grammy awards, a record for any hip-hop artist. However, for years, commentators have stated how hip-hop goes beyond the boundaries of the ghetto from which it is gleaned, and the boardrooms in which it is marketed and distributed.
That fact is realized with the news that King Kendrick has been gifted with a Pulitzer Prize for music for his album “Damn”. Lamar has been officially in pursuit of his destiny since he was rhyming under the K. Dot moniker and releasing mixtapes as a teen. However, in the last five years or so, he has reignited the age-old argument as to what is, and is not, true artistry in hip-hop music at a time when many mainstream artists who profess hip-hop have largely abandoned the genre’s primary tenets of lyricism and well-laid tracks.
Kendrick Lamar – DNA.
DAMN. available now http://smarturl.it/DAMN Dir: Nabil & the little homies Producer: Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, Dave Free, Angel J Rosa Production co: TDE Films, AJR Films (C) 2017 Aftermath/Interscope (Top Dawg Entertainment) http://vevo.ly/l2Qp5O Best of Kendrick Lamar: https://goo.gl/PTr3FF Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/XGVyCd
Breaking into the mainstream with “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” back in 2012, his lyrics are taken directly from his experiences growing up in Compton, California, but much of what he speaks on is apropos to a large number of African Americans who were raised in or still struggle through similar situations.
Though fully capable of bragging and swagging, part of Lamar’s appear is the seemingly modest but self-confident manner in which he approaches his craft, a fact respected by his fans and many outside of his core demo, including big names like Magic Johnson.
Earvin Magic Johnson on Twitter
Congratulations to @kendricklamar for being the first ever rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize in music for his album DAMN. I’m proud of you for your amazing work!
The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 by Hungarian American Joseph Pulitzer to given to honor achievements in newspaper, magazine, digital journalism, literature and musical composition in the United States. It is administered by Columbia University in New York. This is the first time a hip-hop album has won a Pulitzer Prize.
