Anderson Paak & the Free Nationals at NPR Music’s SXSW Showcase at Stubb’s on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Photo by Erika Rich for American-Statesman
California hip-hop act Anderson Paak & the Free Nationals, British electronica singer-songwriter Lapsley and proto-punk legend Iggy Pop are the 2016 recipients of the Grulke Prize, South by Southwest announced Wednesday.
The awards, determined by a jury of music industry attendees and SXSW staff, are designed to single out performers who had the highest impact during the six-day run of the music festival. Paak and Lapsley won for Developing U.S. and Non-U.S. Act, respectively. Pop was recognized as Career Act, given to “an established artist who appeared at SXSW to reinvent themselves or launch an important new project,” the event’s website states.
Paak seemed omnipresent during the festival, drawing acclaim for performances at high-profile venues including Stubb’s, the Mohawk and a YouTube pop-up stage. Lapsley, whose debut album came out earlier this month, also performed at Stubb’s as well as on the Radio Day Stage in the Convention Center. Pop premiered songs from his new “Post Pop Depression” album with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme over two nights at ACL Live, one of them taped for an “Austin City Limits” episode.
The prizes, which have been handed out annually for the past four years, were instituted after the 2012 death of longtime SXSW creative director Brent Grulke. Previous winners were Leon Bridges, Courtney Barnett and Spoon (2015); Future Islands, the Strypes and Damon Albarn (2014); and Haim, Chvrches and Flaming Lips (2013).
