Kendrick Lamar has just made history by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his latest studio album DAMN.
The rapper is the first non-classical or non-jazz artist to win the prestigious prize, and is also the most commercially successful musician to receive the award.
The Pulitzer board described Kendrick’s 2017 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.”
Previous Pulitzer Prize honourees include Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Hank Williams, and Wynton Marsalis.
The Compton native’s fourth studio album, DAMN., features 14 songs, including a song with Irish rockers U2, entitled ‘XXX’.
Earlier this year, DAMN. won five Grammys, including best rap album.
Meanwhile, Kendrick is set to jet into Ireland later this summer to headline Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co. Laois.
