Source: Jason LaVeris / Getty
Kendrick Lamar is investing in the future of Hip-Hop through his company, which has signed an up-and-coming artist and is now partnered with Def Jam as part of the deal.
According to reporting that was released on Wednesday (March 9th), Los Angeles-based artist Tanna Leone is officially signed to pgLang, the production company founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. The 23-year old joins the “King Kunta” rapper as the only artist repping pgLang along with Baby Keem. The signing also becomes the start of a partnership deal between pgLang and Def Jam Recordings. “We’re excited to welcome Tanna Leone and pgLang to the Def Jam family as valued partners,” Def Jam’s new CEO Tunji Balogun said in a statement announcing the news. “I’m lucky to have been able to connect with Kendrick and Dave during the early stages of my career as friends and collaborators, and I’m thrilled to be able to extend that relationship here at Def Jam. Tanna is a dynamic and multi-talented new voice and we’re honored to be a part of his development and success.”
News of the signing was also in conjunction with the release of two singles by Leone, “Lucky” and “With The Villains”. The latter track comes with a music video. The rapper is now a special guest on Baby Keem’s North American tour which launched in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 7th and will conclude in San Francisco, California on April 18th. The pair will also perform at Coachella on April 22nd. “When pgLang launched, I knew that’s where my home was,” Tanna Leone said in a statement announcing the news. “It’s an honor to join my brothers on this journey of shaping the future of media and entertainment. As an artist, I want to represent disrupting the status quo, push people to focus on their growth as a human, and to be a voice for the voiceless through my artistry.”
The move by pgLang comes after the company announced that it was collaborating with South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to produce a live-action comedy movie to be released by Paramount Pictures. The film will reportedly “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.”
Check out the video introduction of Tanna Leone by pgLang below.