Kendrick Lamar still has a lot of industry insiders wondering what exactly is the next move with his new pgLang brand. So far, Lamar has not confirmed very much about pgLang except that it is a “service company” that he started with former TDE president and longtime collaborator Dave Free.
In October, i-D magazine published a Kendrick Lamar-conducted interview with rising rapper Baby Keem. The conversation between the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and his protégé gave a little more insight into pgLang.
“It’s a good thing to have people who understand your creative language. I always go back to the language and that’s how we damn near made this company. You have to be able to share and experience the same language, or teach another language. On the music side, you’ve been at the forefront of pgLang,” Lamar told Keem.
Two months later, an eagle-eyed Reddit user spotted the pgLang logo in an unexpected place. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights [Remix]” lyric video, featuring Spanish singer Rosalía, included an unidentified person wearing a shirt with the same image posted to the verified pgLang Instagram page.
Does that brief moment in The Weeknd’s visuals indicate that the Canadian superstar is working with Lamar’s pgLang company in some capacity? This would not be the first time the Compton emcee used a music video to tease an upcoming partnership. He pulled a similar move back in 2017.
When the music video for the song “LOVE” featuring Zacari came out in 2017, Lamar inserted an Easter egg that slyly revealed his involvement in the creation of the Black Panther soundtrack. A few weeks later, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler confirmed that Lamar and the Top Dawg Entertainment label were curating the music project linked to the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
To add another layer to the internet speculation around a possible pgLang connection with The Weeknd, Black Panther: The Album included a track titled “Pray for Me” by Kendrick Lamar and the chart-topping vocalist, giving credence to the idea it is possible they would try to recreate that teaser buzz around the Black Panther soundtrack’s reveal. The two performers later teamed up for “Sidewalks” off The Weeknd’s 2016 album Starboy.