Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 album Damn was the first non-classical or jazz album to win the Pulitzer for music.
Since the Pulitzer is a quote-unquote “serious” literary award, this marked a bit of a sea change for hip-hop in
American culture. It had long been part of the mainstream of pop culture, but this meant it had broken into the
mainstream of American letters.
This is a free-form post. Listen to the album and respond to it more or less freely. You don’t necessarily have to
use any of these, but here are some questions to get you started:
Was it a good thing for hip-hop when Damn won the Pulitzer? Why or why not?
How does Damn work as a reflection of the times?
What are other albums, past or present, that you think offer a unique reflection of the times they came from?
Why?
What themes do you see emerging over the course of the album?
Sample Solution
