The decision to award rapper Kendrick Lamar the Pulitzer Prize for music represents a historic moment for hip-hop and American music, according to two of the music jurors who picked the album DAMN. as a finalist. Farah Jasmine Griffin, a Columbia professor said: "It's big for hip-hop. I think it's big for our country. It's big for music. But it's big for the Pulitzers, too. Institutions are not stuck in time, either. Institutions can change" .Lamar's win on Monday made history as the first non-classical or non-jazz artist to win the prestigious prize since the Pulitzers included music in 1943. Just having a rapper nominated for the prize is considered a stunning development for awards that usually honour musicians of European classical background.
