Life is stressful. With the grind of work, gym, kids, dating, travel, finances, whatever it is — we could all use a break to slow down and relax. Thankfully, Lil Jon is here to help.
On Friday, the Grammy-Award winning rapper released a new album called Total Meditation — a complete 180 from anything he’s done before. For the album, Lil Jon teamed with producer Kabir Sehgal to put together 10 guided meditations to help you disconnect from the world and enjoy a moment of solitude.
Naturally, I had to try it. Admittedly, I am not much of a meditator. I’ve tried a few times but usually end up feeling silly, and my brain inevitably wanders. Most guided meditations just feel forced and a little hokey. But I’m willing to give Lil Jon a try.
So I poured up a CBD cocktail, got real nice and cozy on my couch, wrapped myself in a blanket like a human burrito (an Am-burrito, if you will) and pressed play.
For starters, you have to move past the fact that the guy leading you on a peaceful journey to total relaxation is the same guy who regularly blows out your eardrums with club anthems like “Turn Down for What.” If all you can think about is Lil Jon screaming “YEAH” and “OKAY” on the track, you’re simply not going to drift into a meditative state of zen.
So I, personally, find it helps to refer to him by his government name — Jonathan Smith.
Mr. Smith begins the album by immediately addressing the elephant in the room: This loud, high-energy DJ is not your typical meditation guru. Turns out, though, Lil Jon meditates before each show (to put him in the right state of mind) and after each show (to relax and unwind), and it’s a practice he’s repeated for years.
So with that out of the way, “We’re going to be turning down the volume and listening to the voice within.”
Lil Jon Gets Spiritual
The album contains 10 guided meditations — all with a different purpose. He covers everything from grief to gratitude to getting in touch with nature and even settling in for a deep sleep.
I do not recommend listening to them all at once. Mainly because an hour and 46 minutes is entirely too long to meditate. I think it would really just be a nap at that point. Instead, it’s probably best to just pick whichever one speaks to you in that moment.
I did, however, listen to them all at once. How else could I give OutKick readers a full review?
The album begins with a 10-minute practice to improve your concentration. With the goal of “heightening your awareness and increasing your sensory presence,” Lil Jon guides you through all five of your senses until you are maximally aware of your surroundings. This is great to listen to before starting work or embarking on an important project. Or, in my case, to focus on meditation for an hour and 46 minutes.
And in “Imagine Nature,” Smith invites us to “touch into our inner wildness.” This was definitely my least favorite track. He asks you to imagine lying on the forest floor in a bed of moss and pine needles. All I could think about was the pine needles picking at me and the swarms of mosquitoes that would inevitably eat me alive. Not very Zen-like.
But he made up for it with “Relieve Anxiety.” I melted into the couch with that song and almost fell asleep. I completely forgot about mosquitoes. Well done, Jonathan.
In the next few meditations, you’ll learn how to express gratitude, cultivate friendships, and deal with sadness. The sadness turned out to be surprisingly deep. In it, he explains that grief doesn’t have to mean mourning a death. It may be grief over a loss, such as being fired from a job, breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or moving away from home. Lil Jon says that “impermanence is what makes every moment unique” and recommends reconfiguring your brain to “replace the pain of loss with nostalgia for memories.”
If I were experiencing deep grief right now, I would probably roll my eyes and burst into tears at that point.
Anyway, “Body Scan” and “Mindful Breathing” are some mind-body connection exercises. The album ends with “Deep Sleep,” which is self-explanatory.
But my favorite song was number 9, “Deep Relaxation.” In this work, Mr. Smith takes you to your favorite places around the world and shows you everything you can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch. By the end of 10 minutes, I was covered in coconut-scented dry oil, toes in water, butt in sand, and double-fisted a Mai Tai. Imagine my disappointment when I returned to reality. I was just in the living room, my laptop buzzing with work email notifications.
It was fun while it lasted.
Overall, I was pretty impressed. I thought a rapper guy doing guided meditations while screaming out loud would be an odd fit, but it turned out to be pretty cool. On the other hand, if you’re a hardcore meditator who’s into sweet-sounding gurus and whisper-singing voices drowned out by overly dramatic music, this might not be for you.
However, if you want to relax for a few minutes with something a little more casual, total meditation One shot. I think of it as meditation, but it’s approachable.
I don’t know if I’m going to go to a Lil Jon concert. But if he were to host a wellness retreat, I would sign up in a heartbeat. Actually, it’s a great idea.
We’ll call this “Turn Down For This.”
