ollowing yesterday’s announcement that rapper Kendrick Lamar won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album DAMN., “Billboard [spoke to] Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy … to learn how [he] nabbed the prestigious award,” writes Joe Lynch in Monday’s (4/16) Billboard.com. “Q: Was the debate intense? Canedy: Oh absolutely, always, in any category.… In this case [the jury] were considering a piece of music they felt had hip-hop influences and said, ‘Well, if we’re considering a piece of music that has hip-hop influences, why aren’t we considering hip-hop?’ … Someone said, ‘We should be considering Kendrick Lamar.’ … Right then, they decided to listen to the entire album and decided ‘This is it.’ Q: That makes it sound a little impromptu, almost. Canedy: Absolutely not. The jury … is comprised of distinguished composers, musicians, music critics and scholars of music, so they know what they’re doing. Q: Why do you think it’s taken so long for a more quote-unquote popular album to get this award? Canedy: I don’t really know why…. The brilliance of the music is what’s shone through. Q: Were you involved in the voting? Canedy: I don’t vote. I oversee the process from choosing jurors to advising the boards to qualifying the applicants.”
Posted April 18, 2018
