Artist Kendrick Lamar is already having a great week. Fresh off his surprise performances at Coachella alongside SZA and Vince Staples, he's just been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for music for his album DAMN. Not only is this achievement already something to be proud of, but he's the first non-classical or jazz artist to accomplish it.
For instance, last year's winner was Angel's Bone, by Du Yun, a "a bold operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world," according to the Pulitzer Prize website.
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Lamar, however, cinched this honour thanks to his album's honest and powerful focus on African American life, something particularly poignant during the current political climate, spotlight on police brutality, and heightened racial divides thanks to radical rhetoric that's infiltrating the mainstream, among other things.
The album was also extremely personal, especially about Lamar's family life. He grew up with both parents, something rare for the community surrounding him in Compton, California, and he credits so much of his success to this.
"When you see kids doing things that the world calls harmful or a threat, it's because they don't know how to deal with their emotions," he told Rolling Stone. "When you have a father in your life, you do something, he'll look at you and say, 'What the fuck is you doing?' Putting you in your place. Making you feel this small. That was a privilege for me."
And while earning a Pulitzer is a bucket list, career-defining, it-doesn't-get-better-than-this achievement, could the best still be ahead for Lamar? This tweet from Lindsay Lohan suggests maybe so.
Pulitzer Prize 2019, Lamar and Lohan are coming for you.
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