Dave Free is opening up about pgLang‘s creative process with Kendrick Lamar.
Dave Free Speaks About Working With Kendrick Lamar
Last Thursday (July 11), Dave Free sat down for an interview with Elephant, where he spoke about his time alongside K-Dot at pgLang, the label Dot created after parting ways with Top Dawg Ent. in 2021. In part of the interview, Free broke down the duo’s creative process at pgLang when it comes to making new art.
“We want to treat artists like they’re start-ups,” he said. “We want them to take ownership of their brand, which is really taking ownership of themselves. You always hear people talking about all these elements of the business that they don’t like, but it’s not like there are a lot of active participants putting their money where their mouth is. We were like, ‘Let’s not talk about what we want to see from the industry—let’s just do it.'”
The outlet then asked Dave Free what the formula was behind pgLang.
“Here’s the whole process,” he said. “Kendrick or I will dream something up, although the idea could come from staff members too, and we’ll come into the office, and we’ll figure out how to create a system around the idea to make it self-sufficient. We make sure it’s going to be impactful, influential, financially stable, it’s going to shake people up, and it’s going to tell a story.”
Free then said they ask if the art actually evokes any emotion in the recipient. “When it’s developed, we ask, ‘Does it move you?'” he added. “Eventually, after repeating that process enough times, we get to a place where we can’t poke any more holes. That’s what we call ‘break and repeat.’ Once there are no more holes to poke, I feel comfortable putting it into the universe. So that’s the process. We apply that to everything that we do.”
Elsewhere, Dave Free also spoke about Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 3,” which dropped back in 2013 shortly before the release of good kid, m.A.A.d city. Free was specifically asked about Kendrick’s bar: “Will you let hip-hop die on October 22?” The lyric included the release date for good kid.
“Everything starts from the truth, and that was Kendrick’s truth,” Dave Free said. “It wasn’t even a marketing scheme. He was asking how to keep this thing going—this thing that’s so beautiful and changed all of our lives and gave us all our opportunities. Every question artists ask gets posed to our team first, like, ‘How do we deliver this message in a way that provokes people into this concept, into this space?’ I remember that saying that day, too. I felt obligated—even as a person making it—to go listen to the album 100 times.”
Read More: Here’s a Detailed Explanation of the Biggest Players Name-Dropped in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar Beef
Dave Free and Kendrick Lamar Direct “Not Like Us” Music Video
The interview comes after Dave and K-Dot teamed up to direct the “Not Like Us” music video earlier in July. In the closing moments of the visual, Kendrick revealed that he directed the music video alongside Dave Free. This was noteworthy because Drake had implied there was tension between the pgLang cofounders during his beef with Kendrick Lamar. Drizzy claimed Dave allegedly fathered children with Kendrick’s longtime partner Whitney Alford. However, these video credits, as well as Dave’s lighthearted cameo in the video, suggested otherwise.