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Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang is many things: movie studio, advertising agency, publishing house, record label. Founded in 2020 alongside filmmaker Dave Free, KDot’s sprawling multimedia organization and self-described home of “astronaut ideas” has put out music videos, marketing campaigns, and Grammy-winning rap albums, all of them made under a philosophy that aspires to “break formats and make them real for the curious.” It’s an ambitious and always-intriguing venture that also happens to include some dope sneakers.
Kendrick first debuted his collaboration with Converse last May with the pgLang Chuck 70—a very subtle spin on the ubiquitous Chuck Taylor high-top that added a hint of primary-color detailing and some new hardware to set off an already pretty much unimprovable shoe. A tiny pgLang brand logo embossed above the All-Star patch in crisp gold and a set of hiking boot-esque metal hook eyelets were the only real points of differentation. It didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but the delicate approach still elevated the classic without presuming to alter it drastically. True to form, Lamar understood that sometimes less is more.
This latest release is the previous sneaker’s exact inverse: another minimalist take on the timeless Chuck Taylor silhouette, only this time in black rather than in white. It’s available in two versions—one of which will be shipped out to buyers at random, introducing a fun element of chance to the proceedings—but you’ll have to look closely to spot the difference. One comes with navy blue pinstripes on the left shoe and Irish Cream on the right. The other comes with Irish Cream on the left and navy blue on the right. pgLang’s press release notes that this subtlety “rewards the curious eye.”
We have to agree. This latest iteration of the earlier collab seems to have been all but inevitable, the black Chuck 70 having always been the yin to the white Chuck 70’s yang. And like the sneaker that dropped last May, the minute refinements on display are all the model really needs to be brought up to that next clutch level. You might need to pay careful attention to see what makes this shoe special, but in an era of over-the-top footwear, that’s precisely what makes this collab feel unique.
If you're looking to get in on the action, the shoes drop on Converse.com and pg-lang.com on November 2.
