Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Wins Pulitzer for 'Damn"

[gblews]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-kendrick-pulitzer-20180416-story.html

I'm not the biggest rap fan around, especially when it comes to contemporary stuff (I'm pretty much an old school rap guy), but the first time I heard a Lamar song I realized that this guy was special. Having listened to him for some time now, I think he is a visionary artist, somewhat like Tupac.

I have heard some of "Damn", so I'm not surprised to see the album honored, but Lamar and rap music in general as an art form has had such a controversial as well as humble birth and subsequent history, a Pulitzer is still a surprise. Naturally, he is the first rapper to win one.

Anyway, congrats.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

For me the division in hip hop isn't 'old school versus new school' so much as 'Glorifies violence and misogyny versus doesn't'. Kendrick Lamar is in the category that doesn't, he's one of my favorite hip hop artists.

Well deserved.

 

[Smellmet]

I thought his first album was excellent, but everything else since, in my view has been commercial garbage.

 

[MatthewRodriguez48]

He has some great tracks, but like any artist, some are better than others. I support the decision to give him the award.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I thought his first album was excellent, but everything else since, in my view has been commercial garbage.

Curious, are 'commercial' and 'garbage' separate criticisms or do you see one as implying the other?

 

[Smellmet]

Curious, are 'commercial' and 'garbage' separate criticisms or do you see one as implying the other?

I'm massive hip hop/gangster rap fan, so when it comes to this genre, I usually lump it in as one criticism, especially when said MC is supremely talented and puts out a fantastic album, only to see him rapping on Taylor Swift and Beyonce's records two years later. Not that there's anything wrong with those two artists I've singled out - they've done some great pop records, but It's just disappointing for me to see him going down that road after just one album. Victim of his own success I guess.

For the record I'm not dissing 'commercial' music, I like a lot of it, it's just a criticism within the confines of my love for hip hop/gangster rap.