One of the more bold declarations in hip-hop in the last month has come from Kendrick Lamar when he rapped "I love myself" in his new single "i." After releasing the positive and peppy Isley Brother sampling song on Sept. 23, the Compton rapper debuted the song live for the first time last night (Oct. 2) during a concert in Toronto.
The enthusiastically performed live debut of "i" arrived at We Day 2014, a fitting event for the self-love single. Lamar joined the likes of Katie Couric, Joe Jonas, Nelly Furtado and Big Sean to encourage young people to become involved in social activism and change and to "globalize passion," according to the event's Facebook page.
We Day is also a stadium-sized event featuring big name performers, like the ones mentioned above. Lamar's appearance at this year's We Day came as a total surprise to the 20,000 volunteers and young people in the audience, though his performance was clearly a welcome event.
Lamar brought the poppy melody of "i" to life, though he decorated the song with some extra pizzazz in the chorus, nearly shouting "I love myself" to the crowd.
Watch Kendrick Lamar perform "i" live for the first time below, via MissInfo:
"i" is the first single from Kendrick Lamar's planned sophomore album. The follow up to his good kid, M.A.A.D. city is due out sometime in the coming months.
