Kendrick Lamar‘s manager Dave Free believes that Lil Wayne‘s legendary mixtape run ultimately changed the music business forever.
The pgLang co-creator talked all things music and k.dot in a new interview with Pin-Up, published on Wednesday (November 29).
When asked how a change in tech has influenced his approach to business following the 2012 release of good kid, m.A.A.d city, Dave noted it started way before that.
“I started working in music in 2004,” he said with a laugh. “And, when the thing that you’ve made meets the right moment for it to be distributed correctly because there’s a system and strategy in place, I call it the arrival. Before social media you couldn’t just throw stuff at the wall — music distribution was more traditional and there were many rules.”
He continued: “Everything changed with the mixtape era and Lil Wayne, who we have to give a lot of credit to. He was the pinnacle of the Internet age because he broke the rules.
“It started with the freestyles he did with Sqad Up, which they released themselves,” Free added, “it broke the traditional distribution format of radio and physical unit sales and changed how artists could get their music heard. We were obviously also motivated by JAY-Z and Nas.”
Kendrick Lamar has also given his props to Lil Wayne in the past.
“The craziest thing about Wayne, what people don’t understand is that you get a lot of younger cats that’s listening to him now and feel he’s a new artist,” he said in a 2012 interview. “I go all the way back to the Hot Boys days and being 13, listening to this dude. Just remembering the staple he put on the game back then all the way to now, to have that longevity years beyond it.”
He went on to share how flate”For him to actually acknowledge what I’m doing right now and seeing it as a path, the same way the longevity he created, it’s a great feeling to share that same stage and a moment with him. Wayne ain’t no new jack to this game. He influenced a lot of styles and a lot of sounds. I would say I was influenced by a certain sound and flow and cadence that he brung to the game.”
Dave Free and Kung Fu Kenny have been thick as thieves for years, and music aside recently announced that their pgLang collective would be producing a live-action comedy film alongside South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker for Paramount Pictures.
Written by Vernon Chatman, the movie is set to “depict the past and present coming to a head when a young Black man, who is interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum, discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his.
