CBS/AP April 16, 2018, 3:36 PM

Kendrick Lamar becomes 1st rapper to win Pulitzer Prize for music

Kendrick Lamar performs on the Coachella Stage during day 3 (Weekend 2) of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 23, 2017 in Indio, California. 

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella

NEW YORK -- Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." has won the Pulitzer Prize for music. It's the first non-classical or jazz work to win the award. The Pulitzer board on Monday called the album a work that captures the complexity of African-American life.

Lamar has been praised and lauded for his deep lyrical content, remarkable live performances, and his profound mix of hip-hop, spoken word, jazz, soul, funk, poetry and African sounds.

His major-label albums "good kid, m.A.A.d city," ″To Pimp a Butterfly" and "DAMN." became works of art, with Lamar writing songs about blackness, street life, police brutality, perseverance, survival and self-worth.

His piercing raps helped him become the voice of the generation, and easily ascend as the leader in hip-hop and cross over to audiences outside of rap, from rock to pop to jazz.