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Los Angeles Rahki That Lady The Isley Brothers Ronald Isley St. Louis

Rahki produced Kendrick Lamar's song "i", which samples "That Lady" by The Isley Brothers. Lamar personally visited Ronald Isley to ask permission to sample the song, and they recorded ad-libs together in the studio. The single cover for "i" features Bloods and Crips gang members forming a heart, representing Lamar's hope to spark change through music in his community. The title "i" has significant connotation for African American males as it relates to pride, which has been both an empowering and sinful source of self-empowerment addressed in the song.

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Marvin Lucero Fiscal
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51 views1 page

Los Angeles Rahki That Lady The Isley Brothers Ronald Isley St. Louis

Rahki produced Kendrick Lamar's song "i", which samples "That Lady" by The Isley Brothers. Lamar personally visited Ronald Isley to ask permission to sample the song, and they recorded ad-libs together in the studio. The single cover for "i" features Bloods and Crips gang members forming a heart, representing Lamar's hope to spark change through music in his community. The title "i" has significant connotation for African American males as it relates to pride, which has been both an empowering and sinful source of self-empowerment addressed in the song.

Uploaded by

Marvin Lucero Fiscal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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"i" was produced by 

Los Angeles producer Rahki, who also produced the song "Institutionalized".


Although the version of "i" that appears on the album is drastically different from the single release,
both versions contain a sample of the song "That Lady" by The Isley Brothers. Lamar personally
visited Isley Brothers' lead vocalist Ronald Isley to ask his permission to sample the song: "I actually
had to go to St. Louis and get the blessings from Ronald Isley," he said. "That was a trip. We got in
the studio and just vibed and talked about how things were back then and how they are now, and
you can actually hear him on the record with a few ad-libs that he actually did. We got it on camera
and things like that, it’s a beautiful thing." Isley also performs on the song "How Much a Dollar
Cost?" with singer-songwriter James Fauntleroy.[1]

The single cover for "i" features members of gangs the Bloods and the Crips forming a heart, on the
subject of the cover art Lamar said in an interview with AMP Radio: "Where I'm from, there's a lot of
gang culture and things like that, so instead of throwing on up gang signs, which we used to, I put a
Blood and I put a Crip together and we’re throwing up hearts...sparking the idea of some type of
change through music or through me because I go back to the city now and people give me the
honor and respect that, you know, this kid can change a little bit something different that’s been
going on in the community."[2]

The song's title has a significant connotation. In Hip Hop America, journalist Nelson George writes,
"'i' is a powerful word in the vocabulary of the African American male," as it can be related to pride.
While pride is one of the seven deadly sins, George's study explains how "this has been an
invigorating source of self-empowerment," similar to the self-love Lamar preaches in his song. [3]

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