Dave Free Credits ‘No Yapping’ Policy for Kendrick Lamar & pgLang Success

Kendrick Lamar‘s business partner and creative collaborator Dave Free sat down with Elephant last week and spoke on pgLang’s formula for success.

“Here’s the whole process,” the former TDE executive began. “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.”

He added, “When it’s developed, we ask, ‘Does it move you?’ 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.”

Free also talked about the creative agency’s “No Yapping” policy. “We want to treat artists like they’re start-ups. We want them to take ownership of their brand, which is really taking ownership of themselves.”

He continued, “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.’”

When asked about the company’s website use of only “action words,” Dave Free answered simply, “That’s the ‘no-yapping’ rule we have around here. We don’t do the yapping. Ain’t got time for all that yapping.”

Dave Free found him in the center of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud that has dominated much of the conversation surrounding rap music this summer. The duo squashed any rumors of any rifts between them, with Free not only making a cameo, but also directing the “Not Like Us” video alongside Lamar.

As a music video director, Free has won three MTV Video Music awards, two BET Video Director of the Year awards, and has a Grammy for best music video.

pgLang was launched in March of 2020, with Lamar officially ending his tenure with longtime label TDE with his 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.