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Top Dawg Entertainment’s Punch Speaks On The Label’s Future After Kendrick

The label’s president hints at an “enhanced” growth for the world’s most dangerous company.

Don’t worry about Punch and the gang-gang over at Top Dawg Entertainment; according to the label’s president, everything is gonna be alright.

In a sit-down interview with Complex, Terrence “Punch” Henderson Jr. discussed the future of the “World’s Most Dangerous Label” following the departure of its biggest star, Kendrick Lamar, who announced his exit ahead of his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Since Lamar has put all his energy behind pgLang, a creative agency and label he started with Dave Free, fans and foes have theorized that there was bad blood between Punch, Top Dawg, and his Black Hippy crew, and yet Henderson insists there is no beef at all.

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“I’m not really one for correcting assumptions. People can feel and think whatever they want, but in this particular situation, the goal is to build an artist to what they want to do. This is what he wanted to do, so we helped build him to it. That’s not a negative at all. It’s actually a positive because he’s leveling up. He’s going from one stage to the next stage of how he sees his life and career progress. You’re not here to hold anybody forever. You come in, you do what you set out to do, and then you continue to move forward.”

As for when it comes to the next steps for TDE, Punch says that he wants to continue to focus on the needs of each unique artist who is signed on for the cause.

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“Everybody doesn’t have the same goals and want to accomplish the same things,” he told the digital e-zine. “You’ve got some where they want to be the biggest star in the world, or you’ve got some who just want to be low key and be able to support their family and do shows. Or you’ve got some that want to transition into movies. It’s just so many different things, so it’s not a duplication; it’s enhancing whatever the individual artist wants to do.”

Additionally, Punch says that the “natural progression” from here with TDE is to branch out into TV and film, mentioning that he’s interested in a TDE series or docufilm.

Read the full interview here to discover what Punch learned from Lamar and SZA’s successes and more.

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