"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]