PGLang

Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free met when the two were in high school, and also co-directed music videos together under the name The Little Homies.[3] 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."[4]

On March 5, 2020, Lamar and Free announced the launching of PGLang, which was described as a multilingual, artist-friendly service company.[5][6] 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."[7] 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."[8] The announcement also featured a "visual mission statement", a four-minute short film starring Lamar, Baby Keem, Jorja Smith, and Yara Shahidi.[9] Lamar simply stated in the press release, "Selfless. Reset."[10][11]

On January 13, 2021, PGLang announced a collaboration project with Calvin Klein, with a series of seven short films written and directed by Free.[12] The short films included appearances from Baby Keem, Brent Faiyaz, Mecca Allah, Travis Bennett, and Amber Wagner, among others.[13][14]