Kendrick Lamar announces new song 'i' following leak

Single will likely appear on his upcoming new album

The artwork for Kendrick Lamar - i (TDE)

Two years after the release of the already classic Good Kid Maad City, Kendrick Lamar has announced new music for 2014, a single called 'i' expected to be released next week.

Kendrick tweeted out the single letter along with the artwork for the track without further comment, retweets flooding in as everyone guessed what it meant.

The revered rapper has featured on dozens of songs in the past year (earning $250,000 a verse) but this will be his first proper release aside from mixtape tracks.

The announcement is probably a response to the existence of the single having leaked earlier this week, when someone spotted the swiftly-removed title of the track on the Interscope website among a few other releases.

Rumour had it the song would be called '(i) (love myself)', but the artwork, which features hands shaped into hearts points to a single 'i'.

Kendrick Lamar said Good Kid could have been a 30-track album (Getty)

The song will likely feature on Kendrick's next album which he is expected to release in the coming months.

He has yet to sort any guest verses for it, and says there may only be a handful because he has "so much to say" himself.

In a recent interview with Complex, he said he is not daunted by the prospect of following up Good Kid.

"If I keep focusing on, 'I need to make something better than good kid,' it's going to be just that," Kendrick said of his creative process.

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"That's not challenging yourself. I don't want to become that person reflecting on what has been done. What I'm doing now is the question. I'm only as good as my last word, my last hook, my last bridge."

His manager Dave Free added: "There were so many things I thought he was gonna talk about in Good Kid that he didn't.

"All these other stories, sh*t that will blow your brain, have never been heard before because they're just too personal. There's still so much to be said. The question is, is he gonna say it?"