PGLang Artists

PGLang (stylized as pgLang, an acronym for Program Language) is an American multi-disciplinary creative collective founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. Launched on March 5, 2020, the collective houses a record label, a production company, and music publishing services.

History

Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free met when the two were in high school, and also co-directed music videos together under the collective name The Little Homies. In 2019, Free announced his departure from Top Dawg Entertainment after being the co-president of the label, saying "None of the tactics we used back in the day to break Kendrick, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, or Schoolboy would work now. It's a whole new game. Blogs were very influential back then and I'd have to build a lot of relationships with blogs and now it's just more about streaming. You have to have the relationships with the streaming sites and it can't just be a fake relationship."

On March 5, 2020, Lamar and Free announced the launching of PGLang, which was described as a multilingual, artist-friendly service company. The company is multilingual for creators, with its official mission statement saying "Our community speaks music, film, television, art, books, and podcasts – because sometimes we have to use different languages to get the point of our stories across. Stories that speak to many nations, many races, and many ages." In a press release, Free said that the company "is not a record label, a movie studio, or a publishing house. This is something new. In this overstimulated time, we are focused on cultivating raw expression from grassroots partnerships." The announcement also featured a "visual mission statement", a four-minute short film starring Lamar, Baby Keem, Jorja Smith, and Yara Shahidi. Lamar simply stated in the press release, "Selfless. Reset."

On January 13, 2021, PGLang announced an advertising campaign with Calvin Klein, with a series of seven short films written and directed by Free. The short films included appearances from Baby Keem, Brent Faiyaz, Mecca Allah, Travis Bennett, and Amber Wagner, among others. In 2022, an untitled comedy film to be produced by Free, Lamar, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker was announced, with Vernon Chatman set to write.

On March 9, 2022, PGLang announced the signing of Los Angeles artist Tanna Leone. Leone would go on to release his debut album, ''Sleepy Soldier'', on April 27. On May 2, the company collaborated with Converse on a sneaker collection called "pgLang for Converse" featuring two silhouettes: the Chuck 70 and the Pro Leather. On May 13, Lamar released his fifth studio album '' Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'' as a double album and his final project with Top Dawg Entertainment.

Roster

Discography

Studio albums

Filmography

Films

Music Videos

Other

References

{{Baby Keem

Kendrick Lamar
2019 establishments in California
Advertising agencies of the United States
American artist groups and collectives
American hip hop record labels
Entertainment companies based in California
Film production companies of the United States
Mass media companies of the United States
Music publishing companies of the United States
Privately held companies based in California
Record labels established in 2019
Record labels based in California