Kendrick Lamar has announced the first single from his hotly anticipated new album. The follow-up to Good Kid, mAAd City will be teased with a song named I, which will reportedly be released next week.

On Wednesday, Lamar tweeted artwork for the single, which shows two men in gang colours – Crips blue and Bloods red – making a heart symbol with their hands. Although it had been rumoured to be titled (i) (love myself), the song’s cover image indicates that it is simply titled i, proving that Lamar hasn’t given up his interest in heterodox capitalisation.

Lamar has not announced a release date, but earlier in the week, before the song’s official announcement, an administrator for the radio message board Pulse Music said Lamar’s new single would get its debut at 8am on 23 September. The news had apparently been posted to Interscope Records’ PlayIGA website.

Rap-Up reports that Lamar’s new song was discussed at a recent meeting of US radio hosts. It is said to feature a sample from the Isley Brothers; speaking to Flaunt magazine in mid-2013, Lamar claimed he had bought “the whole Isley Brothers collection” and was listening to it instead of rap music. “I know all these songs, because they were playing in my house growing up,” he said, “but I didn’t know what I was singing … Now, I realise they were talking about some serious relationship shit – being in love, being out of love … They were on some grown shit.”

Lamar also discussed his new work in Rolling Stone magazine’s fall music preview. “There was a lot left out of Good Kid,” he revealed, and “a few new [songs] … tie in with what I was talking about”. Made with producers like Dr Dre and Digi+Phonics, the tracks are purportedly filled “aggression and emotion”. “I have so much to say,” Lamar said, warning that there won’t be many featuring acts.

Released in October 2012, Good Kid, mAAd City was his second studio LP and marked his breakthrough. It debuted at No 2 on the UK album chart and received a Grammy for album of the year.