Kendrick Lamar loves himself -- and the funk -- in new single ‘i’

“He’s not a rapper -- he’s a writer, he’s an author!”

That’s how an impassioned voice describes Kendrick Lamar at the beginning of the celebrated Compton MC’s brand-new single, “i,” which appeared early Tuesday on SoundCloud.

You can understand the speaker’s point of view, of course: Vividly describing some of the troubles he’s seen -- along with his determination to “blow steam in the face of the beast” -- Lamar uses words in “i” as nimbly as any literary star.

But take it from one who knows: Writers rarely get as funky as this rapper does here.

Presumed to be the first offering from Lamar’s upcoming follow-up to 2012’s Grammy-nominated “good kid, m.A.A.d city,” “i” was produced by L.A.-based Rahki, who built the track around a sizable sample of the Isley Brothers’ early-’70s soul classic “That Lady.”

“Everybody looking at you crazy / What you gonna do?” Lamar asks over the song’s propulsive groove, which moves a good deal faster than the laidback West Coast beats on his major-label debut. “Lift up your head and keep moving? / Or let the paranoia haunt you?”

The answer comes in the tune’s ebullient chorus: “I love myself.”

Still untitled (and without a release date), Lamar’s new album will contain “aggression and emotion,” the rapper told Rolling Stone. It might also feature production by his mentor Dr. Dre, who Lamar said has been “trying to find that next thing -- just really elevating himself and the team to grow as a creator.”

Twitter: @mikaelwood