Winter, Spring, Fall, Kendrick SZN

Kendrick Lamar‘s debut album, the platinum-selling good kid, m.A.A.d. city, was the most celebrated Hip-Hop album since Kanye West‘s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and the most critically-acclaimed rap debut since 50 Cent‘s Get Rich Or Die Trying, and now the Compton emcee has returned 2 years later for his encore performance. After taking 2 years off to do a song with just about everybody, tour in just about every city, perform at the Grammy Awards, nearly win one and become a household name, Kendrick Lamar has officially begun his sophomore album roll-out. Earlier this year, reports began to circulate indicating that the “Poetic Justice” rapper would have his next release ready for a September release, but instead we get the lead single. No complaints.

The new single is produced by Rahki, who also finds himself on a big stage. He’s worked with Kendrick Lamar before–Rahki co-produced “Black Boy Fly”, a bonus track on GKMC, with Dawaun Parker–and has done work with 50 Cent, Curren$y, Game and Ab-Soul, but “I”, is definitely the biggest stage the L.A. based beatsmith has ever been on, and he certainly delivers–aside from a dance happy instrumental, he’s also got a deft sample of The Isley Brothers‘ “That Lady”.

Without further ado, here’s “i”.