Kendrick Lamar - i

“We got a young brother that stands for something / we got a young brother that believes in all of us. Brother Kendrick Lamar. He’s not a rapper, he’s a writer.”

Something suggests Kendrick Lamar’s gained a big chunk of confidence since he released 2012’s ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’, a record that’s barely stopped picking up momentum, despite attention turning to a follow-up. “I love myself” is a fitting mantra to shout from skyscrapers for someone that’s been declared one of the best rappers on the planet, if not the very top of the game. It’s interesting, in that case, to hear Lamar shunning the dark storytelling of his previous LP for something way more optimistic, sunny-side-up.

‘i’ is all glorified guitar licks, shameless solos and cheery piano hums - it’s radio-friendly for the most part, and it’s undoubtedly the sound of Kendrick taking the obvious next step towards greater mainstream attention. That’s not to damn the song’s closing minute and a half, which swerves between musings on depression and a dazzling to-and-fro between jazz percussion and dallying baselines. ‘i’ isn’t one big pat on the back. It delves into grizzly darkness by the end - Kendrick’s far from forgetting the trade he specialises in, and he remains an unpredictable talent that’s pretty much as peerless as he thinks he is.