Dave Free, a renowned American filmmaker and record executive, has amassed considerable net worth through his decades-long career in music production.
However, Dave Free gained popularity after becoming the manager of the greatest rapper of all time, Kendrick Lamar, with a net worth of around $90 million as of 2024.
During his tenure at Top Dawg Entertainment, Free directed various short films and music videos with Lamar, which earned millions of dollars.
Further, the 2015s Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterfly, which Top Dawg Entertainment released, brought Lamar 11 Grammys.
After working in the TDE for almost two decades, Dave Free left the company in 2019 and co-founded ‘PGLang’ with his childhood friend Kendrick Lamar.
Dave Free was listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 list
During his tenure at TDE, Forbes listed Dave Free on the 2016 30 under 30 list, making him one of the prominent music producers in America. He was 28 years old then and had already garnered massive success in music.
In the bio, Forbes mentioned that Free played Lamar’s song to TDE’s founder, Anthony Tiffith, while pretending to fix his computer, as he was a computer technician.
After he got the deal, they produced all of Lamar’s songs, which sold millions of records and won multiple Grammys and big world tours.
When his friend started achieving success through his music, Free joined the label as an in-house producer, and after some years, he became the social media director for TDE and later Co-president of the label in 2007.
Similarly, after finally becoming Kendrick Lamar’s manager, he co-directed Lamra’s several albums under the title Little Homies, which won one Grammy and two MTV Video Music Awards.
Their work earned worldwide praise and became a huge success, as Kendrick Lamar has over 64.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Further, their work won various awards and accolades in the categories of Best Music Video, Best Hip-hop Video, and Video of the Year.
Later, after gaining much success from the TDE, Free decides to work independently. However, even after his departure from the TDE, Lamar and Free worked together, writing, directing, and producing several music videos.
Even though Dave Free has not made his exact net worth public, he certainly holds over $25 million, assumedly, as his works earn him millions of dollars every year.
Finally, the 37-year-old successful filmmaker and producer lives lavishly with his family in Chicago.
Additional Information
- Dave Free, whose real name is David Isaac Friley, was born on November 13, 1986, in Inglewood, California.
- He is the youngest child of his parents and has two older siblings.
- Kendrick Lamar and Free share a close friendship bond as they have known each other since high school.
