Kendrick Lamar and filmmaker Dave Free have put out a number of projects with their company pgLang, usually brand collaborations with companies like Calvin Klein and Cash App. Now, the agency has announced that it’ll be partnering with a tech company to release a limited edition telephone designed “for humans.”
Billboard is reporting that the phone — called the Light Phone II — will drop on Thursday (November 2).The minimalist phone, done in partnership with the company Light, doesn’t have a web browser or a color interface, and is meant to be a more “minimalist” response to the standard cell phone.
“We build all of the tools from scratch to ensure there are absolutely no third party apps tracking you,” reports the company’s official website about the phone, per the outlet. “In this time of ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ and the ‘Attention Economy,’ the Light Phone represents a different option. You are the customer, not the product. This is a phone for humans.”
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There’s an official trailer for the Light Phone II, which you can check out below.
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pgLang — which is short for “programming language,” per Free — launched its official website in 2020. The organization was described as “an at service” company for creative individuals dabbling in various mediums. The company’s mission statement elaborated a bit more on this.
“Lamar and Free’s new purpose at pgLang embodies something deeply personal to them,” it reads in part. “pgLang is at service to creators and projects that selflessly speak with, and for, the shared experiences that connect us all…In this overstimulated time, we are focused on cultivating raw expression from grassroots partnerships.”
The first official signee to the company was Kendrick Lamar’s cousin Baby Keem, and in March 2022 they signed their second act: a California rapper named Tanna Leone. Leone dropped off his debut album Sleepy Soldier on April 28 of that year.
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In an interview with Complex, Leone elaborated on why he decided to partner up with pgLang.
“It’s beyond the fact that it’s artists involved,” he said. “It’s really like a family. It’s its own ecosystem and it really supports the creative. It really supports and respects everyone’s mind in the team, because everybody’s there for a reason. So that makes it very special.”
He continued: “It was perfect for me, because outside of music, I’m creative in other spaces and I’m skilled in other spaces. It took me a while to realize I wanted to pursue music, so on that journey, I started getting good at other things. That alone is why being a part of a company like pgLang is so attractive to a multifaceted, multi-hyphenated, creative artist.”
