Watch Kendrick Lamar’s jubilant new video for ‘i’

In L.A. hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar is the one artist everyone can agree on. Now, in a new music video, he’s taken that musical peacemaking ability into real life.

The MC released his new video for the single “i” this morning. Directed by Alexandre Moors and the Little Homies, the clip followed Kendrick as he quells a fight in a nightclub, rallies a group of campers and even stops an arrest and a suicide in favor of a big old dance party.

He plays a pied piper of good feelings, one that matches the warm, nostalgic Isley Brothers sample that drives “i” in its production.

Just when you think the video ends on an obvious scene of a rooftop party, however, there’s a long locked shot of Kendrick leaning from a moving car window, splayed out in exhausted ecstasy, again alone but ultimately happy.

Are we looking at a more upbeat and free-spirited Kendrick to come on future singles? There’s still no hard news on a formal follow-up to “good kid, m.A.A.d city” yet, but it certainly looks as if he’s in high spirits going into it.

The video, which contains explicit language, can be watched here.

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