VIDEO : Kendrick Lamar Is The First Rapper to Win Pulitzer Prize for Music

Modern icon Kendrick Lamar has been named the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, earning the honor for the outstanding quality of his 2017 release, DAMN. In fact, in its entire history, the Pulitzer for music has largely been a classical composers? affair, with acclaimed avant-garde jazz artist Ornette Coleman the only other non-classical musician to earn the award for a contemporary work ? though several citations have been given to non-classical artists like Duke Ellington for their bodies of work in the decades following its original release.