Take a moment and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth – a little break can do wonders for many. But what’s different when the leader of your spiritual retreat is a guy who’s known to frequent the club?
Rapper and producer Lil Jon has been so committed to meditation lately that he decided to release an album featuring his mantras instead of music, after the king of crunk has been fueling his music for decades on tracks like DJ Snake’s “Turn Down for What” and LMFAO’s “Shot.”“ and his own, “Get Low” by the Eastside Boys. But as she told NPR’s Aisha Rascoe, “Sometimes you have to turn it down.” This is the latest installment in her new album of guided meditations, Total Meditation.
Lil Jon spoke with Rascoe Weekend Edition Sunday They talk about maturing in music, focusing on health, and finding balance between both ends of the volume knob. Listen to their conversation at the audio link and read the edited transcript below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Aisha Rascoe: I practice meditation when I’m feeling anxious or overwhelmed, which is a lot. It helps calm me down. Is that what got you started meditating? Was it anxiety?
Lil Jon: Yeah, anxiety and a little bit of stress because I was turning 50 and looking at my life, looking at my marriage, looking at a lot of things and trying to move forward and get through them. Before I went on stage I would meditate, I would take deep breaths, I would take time for myself, but I realized that at this particular point in my life, I really needed to dig a little deeper. So I meditated every day, I did affirmations every day, and that helped calm my mind and quieted the crazy thoughts and feelings that I was having and brought me peace.
Of course, many people think of you as a club DJ.got itDid you want to let people know that there is more to you, that you are a multi-talented person?
I’m not walking around all day every day screaming, “Yup! What? OK!” Sometimes you have to slow down. You have to rest. You have to sleep. You have to drink lots of water! You have to take care of your health. People have heart attacks and strokes. I know a guy who had triple bypass surgery. That’s what inspired me to start getting healthy. Because I looked at him and I thought, “He’s 10 years younger than me.” That was the beginning of my health journey around 2010 or 2012.
You still DJ regularly, I hear you’ve cut down on your drinking drastically, and of course you meditate, but being in a club isn’t exactly the most focused experience. How do you find that balance?
You have to look at the club as a release. Some people need to be social with other people. Some people need to be with friends and family. Music is therapeutic. Dance is therapeutic. It’s good for the soul, it’s good for the mind. So it works for me. I can still do it. And I’m spreading good energy to people. I’m giving people a good time with meditation and with the club.
Your music is really energetic and I love how it affects people’s moods. I remember in the past, when you played a song like “Head Bussa,” the men would go crazy and the women would leave the dance floor. But now, with this meditation album, you’re obviously creating a very calming sound. Can you talk about how you use sound to evoke different emotions?
Whenever I write a song, I have to find the right character. I call it a character. It’s literally like finding the right voice that connects with the right mood, the atmosphere for the song. It took me a while to find the right voice, the right tone. One of the things people have said to me is that they are surprised at how pleasant and soothing my voice is.
What is the most difficult part of meditation for you?
I think the hardest thing for anyone is to disconnect from the matrix. It’s always been hard for me to meditate properly because I’m always thinking about the future. But I’ve learned that I can take a break, and then when I come back I’m calmer. My mind is clearer. My creativity is more stimulated because I’ve taken a break.
When it comes to taking care of yourself, black men in general are dying at a higher rate from cancer and things like that. A lot of black celebrities, especially black male celebrities, are dying at a relatively young age. You’ve been focusing on meditation and therapy and things like that. I read that you recently had a colonoscopy.
Yeah. When you turn 50, you have to get it.
Are you trying to send a message to black men in particular that they should take care of themselves and that there is no shame in doing so?
100%. And releasing this album, I think mental health is really important to me because men, especially black men, suffer. And we’re raised to just suffer in silence, “You’ll get through it, and you’ll be OK.” And deal with your own problems. “Be a man.” So this album is saying, listen to this meditation, it’s going to give you a different perspective on things, give it a go with an open mind, and see how it helps you.
Copyright 2024 NPR. For more information, visit https://www.npr.org.
