That TDE reign just won’t let up, specifically for Kendrick Lamar. If the rapper’s plethora of music records, accolades and Black Panther: The Soundtrack win weren’t enough, he just added another shiny new award to his collection of honors. In a string of tweets, it was announced that Kendrick Lamar won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for DAMN, his 2017 LP. Historically, Pulitzer Prizes honor excellence in journalism and the arts, so the award is quite fitting. They considered DAMN “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”
K. Dot smashed yet another record with this one. His Pulitzer marks the first time a hip-hop album has won a Prize in Music. (Hamilton won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2016.) The association extended the congratulations not only to K. Dot, but to his boss Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith and Interscope Records.
Congratulations to @kendricklamar, @dangerookipawaa and @Interscope! #Pulitzer pic.twitter.com/fFQBYnoW9F
— The Pulitzer Prizes (@PulitzerPrizes) April 16, 2018
The awards were announced on Monday (April 16) live from Columbia University’s School of Journalism in New York. This major win comes right before damn near all of TDE’s roster—Kendrick, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SZA, SiR and Lance Skiiiwalker—heads out on their Championship Tour. They’ve got plenty of celebrating to do, indeed. Congrats, Kendrick!