Clay Cane is a Sirius XM radio host and the author of "Live Through This: Surviving the Intersections of Sexuality, God, and Race." Follow him on Twitter @claycane. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Kendrick Lamar has created the perfect fusion of politics and hip hop, and on Monday he got a Pulitzer Prize -- and of course he did. In a time when hip hop is supersaturated with vapid pop hits and petty feuds, Lamar is socially resonant and musically gifted. He is the voice of this generation, and the first hip hop artist to win the music Pulitzer, for his 14-track "Damn."

Clay Cane

While artists like Lil' Wayne admit they don't feel "connected" to Black Lives Matter, Lamar is providing anthems for revolutionary millennials across the country, in much the way that Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam" sounded an anthem for the civil rights movement.

Like Simone, the roots of hip hop are absolutely political. From the blunt social commentary delivered by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message" in 1982 to N.W.A. shining a light on police brutality in the late 1980s, this art form has always represented where we are as a culture and where we are headed.

JUST WATCHED Iconic song inspired by civil rights fight Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Iconic song inspired by civil rights fight 02:01

Poets represented the streets in a way that made you feel not so alone, whether you were in Compton, the Bronx, or Chi-Town.

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