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Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Meet the former Chicago ‘theater kid' who stages Kendrick Lamar
Mike Carson made the backdrops for school plays. Mountains, villages, flat and colorful, that sort of thing. He also ran the lights. He was a tech guy in school theater. He played football at Plainfield North High School, but at heart, he was a theater kid. Even now, living in Los Angeles, he heads to the theater whenever he can. As a child, his parents often took him to Chicago theater. That stuck in surprising ways. So much so, you are familiar with Mike Carson's work even if you don't know him by name, or thought of that work as theatrical. Carson, now the creative director at pgLang in Los Angeles, is one of Kendrick Lamar's longtime production designers and creative partners. If you're headed to Solider Field this week to see 'The Grand National Tour' featuring Lamar and SZA, know this: a lot of what you'll see is Mike Carson's ongoing collaboration with Lamar and Dave Free, childhood friends who cofounded pgLang in 2020 as an arts incubator that, according to its mission statement, speaks in music, podcasts, film, theater, books, TV, visual arts — 'because sometimes we have to use different languages to get the point of our stories across.' Next spring, they have a movie co-starring Lamar, made with Matt Stone and Trey Parker of 'South Park,' about a Black intern who plays a slave in a living history museum. But so far, their best-known production is the Super Bowl halftime show from February, the most watched halftime show in NFL history, a furious, petty, startling satire of American dreams, joys and contradictions. If its stage kind of looked like a PlayStation controller to you — that was the idea. Nothing about a Lamar performance is phoned in. Carson thinks of them as quasi-theatrical musicals. 'The music becomes the script and gives us an intention of how the show will flow the way it does,' he says. 'When we're conceptualizing, you might imagine us just throwing songs onto a board or images up on a board, then going from there, but there's a reason, or a narrative, or something underlying everything on that stage. Myself, I like some tension in there, but everything gets crafted, from the setlist to the color of the lights at one moment to why there are (dancers) on stage another moment. I definitely took that approach from going to plays.' Take the backdrops. Your average stadium concert is going to blow up the performer's image to Godzilla proportions, blending in bits of video and a lot of CGI surrealism — the DNA comes directly from the churning swirls of late 1960s concert psychedelia. With Lamar, not so much. Yes, he's gargantuan on those video screens; it is a stadium. But he also mingles with images reminiscent of 'The Last Supper' and sculptor Augusta Savage, Los Angeles car culture and the great contemporary collagist Lauren Halsey; the tour uses seven of her assemblages of Black archival images, street advertising and neon colors, blowing them up big enough to stretch across Soldier Field and superimposing Lamar into the mix. A few years ago, when Lamar headlined Lollapalooza, he performed against large lo-fi backdrops of Black friends and family, made by the contemporary painter Henry Taylor. Lamar's shows are big on motifs. For this tour, it's a 1987 Buick Grand National GNX, the same one that was the focus of the half-time performance. 'We've been rolling with that car since the Super Bowl,' Carson said, 'only now its retooled from that, where it was basically a clown car.' Car collectors may flinch. The GNX, counted as one of the last American muscle cars, was so limited edition that only 547 were manufactured by General Motors; each of the top 500 Buick dealers in the nation received just one or two to sell. After a countrywide search, Carson and Co. landed one — then gutted it for the Super Bowl, allowing an improbable number of dancers to appear to stream out of it. The Grand National Tour opens with laser-drawn interpretations of Latino-inspired car window fonts, backed by a swooning serenade from Mexican American mariachi Deyra Barrera. Then the GNX rises out of the stage with Lamar in the driver's seat. Lamar's previous 'Big Steppers' tour was even more outwardly theatrical: It opened with Lamar at a piano, playing to a puppet of Lamar. Dancers moved mechanically, separated out exactly. At one point in the show, when Lamar bent over, his shadow was cast huge against a backdrop, except on the backdrop, a row of arrows appeared to be stuck in his back. 'Doing that kind of thing in arenas is a little easier,' Carson said. 'You can get more abstract, or you can be a little more theatrical. In a stadium, the expectation is for a spectacle and you think in terms of how three corners of a stadium are getting the same thing. But we can be subtle, we can — Kendrick's always willing to push things past a normal show.' One of the tour's indelible images involves Lamar simply sitting on steps, tens of thousands before him. Carson knows pop ambitions. He grew up in the western suburbs of Berkeley and Bellwood, then later moved to the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen. He attended Columbia College for a time until meeting legendary Chicago fashion designer and Kanye West collaborator Virgil Abloh, who died in 2021. 'I basically dropped out after my first semester sophomore year and began working with Virgil and went on the whole 'Watch the Throne' thing with Kanye and Jay-Z, the album and the tour. I was documenting Kanye and Jay-Z. Virgil took a chance on me. For a few years, that was my college experience.' He remembers Abloh, no matter how any assistants were around him, often doing the work himself. Indeed, you could argue that Abloh's creative spirit is in 'The Grand National Tour,' in the blend of street clothing and stark minimalist staging, and in the way Lamar, Carson and Free make the familiar feel fresh, and how they somehow come off bold without forgetting to remain accessible. 'You want to be always forging a new way of doing this,' Carson said. 'That could mean our version of what concert choreography could look like. Or our version of what stage design can look like. Or Kendrick's interpretation of what a stadium concert could look like right now. How do you get your own distinctive visual language out? And how do you do it at the scale of a football stadium?'
Fast Company
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
pgLang: Kendrick Lamar's visionary agency disrupting Hollywood, music, events, and ads
Kendrick Lamar isn't just a Grammy-winning rapper—he's also behind pgLang, a groundbreaking creative company shaping the future of media, music, and storytelling. But what exactly is pgLang? And how is it redefining the creative agency model? This is FC Explains, where Fast Company breaks down the most innovative companies of the year.
Fashion Network
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Chanel appoints Kendrick Lamar as brand ambassador for eyewear
Chanel has tapped Grammy-winning rapper and entrepreneur Kendrick Lamar as the face of its upcoming eyewear campaign, set to launch on April 22, 2025. The appointment marks a bold move by the French luxury house to deepen its cultural footprint through collaborations that blend fashion, music and storytelling. The Spring 2025 campaign highlights Chanel's latest eyewear collection and features Lamar alongside actors Margaret Qualley, Lily-Rose Depp and Nana Komatsu. With this move, Chanel aims to engage younger, culturally connected consumers in key global markets. Chanel first began building ties with Lamar in 2023, when he wore a custom look by the house to the Met Gala. In early 2024, his creative company pgLang collaborated with Chanel on 'The Button,' a fashion short film that premiered during the brand's haute couture presentation in Paris. 'Chanel has a timeless legacy, and that is always something I can get behind,' said Lamar. 'Since they don't make clothes for men, I knew it would have to be glasses.' Eyewear remains one of Chanel's most dynamic commercial categories, serving as an entry point for new customers. The brand has continued to grow its presence in this segment with expanded retail efforts and seasonal storytelling. According to Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion division, eyewear is more than a functional accessory—it plays a strategic role in the house's business model and overall brand strategy. With this appointment, Lamar joins a select group of male ambassadors at Chanel, including G-Dragon and Timothée Chalamet. The partnership is expected to evolve beyond the eyewear campaign, with additional creative projects led by pgLang. The collaboration bridges Chanel's heritage fashion codes with contemporary cultural storytelling. As the campaign rolls out this week, Chanel's move reflects a growing shift in luxury marketing, where cultural credibility and cross-industry partnerships are essential to maintaining global relevance in a competitive landscape.
Fashion Network
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Kendrick Lamar fronts Chanel's latest eyewear launch
Grammy-winning rapper and entrepreneur Kendrick Lamar will star in Chanel 's Spring 2025 eyewear campaign, launching April 22. The collaboration underscores the French luxury house's ongoing commitment to cultural storytelling, blending fashion and music to connect with a younger global audience. The campaign features Lamar alongside actors Margaret Qualley, Lily-Rose Depp and Nana Komatsu, showcasing Chanel's latest eyewear collection. With this move, the brand aims to engage culturally connected consumers in key global markets. Chanel began building ties with Lamar in 2023, when he wore a custom look by the house to the Met Gala. In early 2024, his creative company, pgLang, collaborated with Chanel on "The Button," a fashion short film that premiered during the brand's haute couture presentation in Paris. Although Chanel is traditionally recognized for its womenswear, Lamar's participation signals the house's inclusive approach to categories such as eyewear. It also reflects the brand's continued evolution in storytelling, leveraging cross-disciplinary partnerships that bridge fashion and entertainment. Eyewear remains one of Chanel's most dynamic commercial categories, serving as an entry point for new customers. The brand has continued to grow its presence in this segment with expanded retail efforts and seasonal storytelling. According to Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion division, eyewear is more than a functional accessory—it plays a strategic role in the house's business model and overall brand strategy. With this collaboration, Lamar joins a select group of male ambassadors at Chanel, including G-Dragon and Timothée Chalamet. The partnership may extend beyond the current campaign through additional creative projects led by pgLang, blending Chanel's heritage with contemporary culture. As the campaign rolls out this week, Chanel's move reflects a growing shift in luxury marketing, where cultural credibility and cross-industry partnerships are essential to maintaining global relevance in a competitive landscape.
Fashion Network
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Kendrick Lamar fronts Chanel's latest eyewear launch
Grammy-winning rapper and entrepreneur Kendrick Lamar will star in Chanel 's Spring 2025 eyewear campaign, launching 22 April. The collaboration underscores the French luxury house's ongoing commitment to cultural storytelling, blending fashion and music to connect with a younger global audience. The campaign features Lamar alongside actors Margaret Qualley, Lily-Rose Depp and Nana Komatsu, showcasing Chanel's latest eyewear collection. With this move, the brand aims to engage culturally connected consumers in key global markets. Chanel began building ties with Lamar in 2023, when he wore a custom look by the house to the Met Gala. In early 2024, his creative company, pgLang, collaborated with Chanel on "The Button," a fashion short film that premiered during the brand's haute couture presentation in Paris. Although Chanel is traditionally recognised for its womenswear, Lamar's participation signals the house's inclusive approach to categories such as eyewear. It also reflects the brand's continued evolution in storytelling, leveraging cross-disciplinary partnerships that bridge fashion and entertainment. Eyewear remains one of Chanel's most dynamic commercial categories, serving as an entry point for new customers. The brand has continued to grow its presence in this segment with expanded retail efforts and seasonal storytelling. According to Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion division, eyewear is more than a functional accessory—it plays a strategic role in the house's business model and overall brand strategy. With this collaboration, Lamar joins a select group of male ambassadors at Chanel, including G-Dragon and Timothée Chalamet. The partnership may extend beyond the current campaign through additional creative projects led by pgLang, blending Chanel's heritage with contemporary culture. As the campaign rolls out this week, Chanel's move reflects a growing shift in luxury marketing, where cultural credibility and cross-industry partnerships are essential to maintaining global relevance in a competitive landscape.
