Kendrick Lamar And Dave Free Expand PGLang With Project 3, A New Agency Redefining Brand Strategy
Kendrick Lamar and longtime business partner Dave Free are expanding their creative ecosystem, pgLang, with Project 3, a new venture that takes an innovative approach to offering creative business resources.
At its core is Project 3 Agency, a full-service firm delivering creative direction, content creation, production, and brand strategy. According to Fast Company, the agency’s name was inspired by storytelling’s three pillars: the beginning, middle, and end.
“We see brands now, and one mistake can have you questioning your existence or the audience questioning your purpose,” Cornell Brown, an executive at pgLang and Project 3, told Fast Company. “For us, there is a confidence that we can bring to this. We have tentacles in so many places: touring, music, when we’re creating merch, when we’re creating art. We have so many inputs that there’s a confidence that comes from seeing all of that around you.”
Launched in 2020, pgLang embraces creators across disciplines — including authors, film and television directors, producers, and musicians — who share its vision for producing “quality” and “unconventional concepts,” per its website, AFROTECH™ previously reported.
The company has already made its mark, producing work for major brands and leading Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Half Time Show on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. It handled every show element, from editing and production to stage design and sound technology.
“Shout out to pgLang…That’s my team. It’s 30 incredible individuals. Five extraordinary executives that work day in and day out to make sure we are doing something that will long live the culture,” Lamar said at an Apple Music Super Bowl presser, per AFROTECH™. “From a music standpoint, from a creative standpoint, fashion, film, books, day in day out of just being around like-minded individuals that have different perspectives outside of just music.”
The company’s approach landed it at No. 15 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025, citing its integration of music, branded storytelling, and live events into a cohesive cultural ecosystem, AFROTECH™ noted.
While pgLang serves as the parent company, aligning all external ventures under a unified vision, Project 3 and Project 3 Agency will focus exclusively on serving other businesses — an effort its executives believe fills a gap in the creative agency world and helps brands uncover their authentic story and purpose.
“We were seeing companies we admired, but the storytelling was lackluster,” Free said, per Fast Company. “And a lot of it is because the agency motto became a turnover business of more, more, more. Sometimes that’s great, you need that. But [the storytelling] also has to help people. It has to change the world. It has to latch on to people.”
Brown emphasized that the brands best suited for Project 3 aren’t looking for one-and-done campaigns — they’re seeking to realign their strategy and reconnect with their core purpose.
Free echoed Brown’s sentiment, adding that Project 3’s scaling will be intentional — prioritizing quality over quantity — with a goal of building brands a long-term foundation for success and keeping them relevant for the next decade, not just the next quarter.
“That’s gonna be the marker of how successful this can be, because I don’t see us doing just anything with anyone,” Free said, per Fast Company. “We are definitely going for a more premium approach.”
