Lil Jon has moved beyond shots and onto a newfound mental clarity with his recent mindfulness album, Total Meditation. The album dropped on February 16 and features 11 tracks that guide listeners through meditation and mental wellness all in 10 minutes or less.
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He recently spoke with CBS Mornings about the unique project, and how he aimed to create balance through meditation and music during a personal upheaval. He also touched on his interesting vocals, and how he toned down his voice to suit the project.
When it was mentioned that his voice is “so soothing” in the guided meditations, Lil Jon joked, “First of all, you can’t scream all the time,” eliciting laughs from the anchors. “I can’t be hollering ‘can I get a number 2?’”
He continued, “So, I can’t scream all the time. That’s my voice, [but] for every song I do I have to find the right voice for that track. So it took me a moment to find the right voice, I really wanted to make sure that my voice was soothing … and it helps to relax you, and I said the words properly and clearly. It took me a moment in the studio to figure it out.”
[RELATED: Breathe In and Turn Down for What: Lil Jon Releases Guided Meditation Album]
Lil Jon Stopped Drinking and Found Clarity, Which Inspired Guided Meditation Album
Lil Jon was then asked about the inspiration behind the album and what led him to meditation. Something happened when he turned 50 that jumpstarted his journey to mental clarity.
“I turned 50,” he began, “I started to have, not health issues, but I had a recurring little thing on my side and it scared me, I was like ‘is that my liver?’ Because I was drinking a lot, because I was in the club. [It] instantly scared me, made me go to the doctor … he’s like, ‘it’s not your liver, don’t be afraid, you just have some inflammation in your gut.’ But I had stopped drinking, and I felt like I started to come out of a fog, and I had clarity.”
He went on to explain that he met Kabir Sehgal, who he crafted the meditations with, through his friend and attorney Doug Davis. He talked about the “binaural beats, rain, and ocean” that he had been listening to and pitched the meditation idea.
“Life was life-ing,” he joked, then explained that at that point he was starting to meditate in the mornings and say positive affirmations. “I wasn’t happy with where my life was,” he admitted.
He shared one of his affirmations that he says everyday—”I am happy, I am healthy, and I am at peace.”
Further in the interview, he discussed mental health in hip hop culture and how our focus on mental wellness and mindfulness has changed in the past couple of decades. His meditation album is definitely helping to usher in a new era for mindfulness in not only the hip hop community, but for many others as well. Watch the full interview on CBS News.
Featured Image via CBS News
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