Californian rapper Kendrick Lamar has come good on his promise of new material, sharing new feel-good single i, which comes complete with an Isley Brothers sample. i is the first taste of Kendrick’s still unnamed follow-up to 2012 album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.
The Rahki-produced i (below) borrows from the 1973 version of the Isley Brothers’ soul hit That Lady, giving Kendrick’s track a buttery flashback feel. Coupled with the nostalgia trip are some positive lyrics sure to boost just about anyone’s mood.
“And I love myself / The world is a ghetto with guns and picket signs,” Kendrick raps. “I love myself / But it can do what it want whenever it wants and I don’t mind / I love myself / He said I gotta get up, life is more than suicide.”
Kendrick has told Rolling Stone that he’s “not sure at all” that his next album will come out in 2014. That said, he’s revealed that he has “a bunch of tracks” in the works whose creation has been overseen by mentor Dr. Dre. Kendrick also admitted that no other rappers have been asked to appear on the record. “I have so much to say!” he said. “It’s somewhat selfish of me.”
What will the album sound like? Kendrick has told Rolling Stone to expect “aggression and emotion” from the release, as well as some freestyling. If i is anything to go by, Kendrick Lamar’s ingenuity will keep turning heads.
i is available now via iTunes.
