Lil Jon Explains Why He Released His 'Total Meditation' Album

Lil Jon revealed the reason behind the release of his Total Meditation album, which — as the title suggests — is a guided meditation record.

Speaking to Gayle King and Charles Barkley on the CNN show King Charles, the artist, who tends to make music for rowdy nights, explained that his age was a factor in the album’s creation. “I was turning 50 years old — a lot of things going on in my life, a lot of life changes, health issues. You had to go get that colonoscopy and you’re worried about your health,” Jon stated. “Health is wealth, health is everything. You want to be here for a long time just like what Charles [Barkley] was saying earlier.”

“The meditation was something I started to do to help me deal with the issues that I was dealing with in my life,” he continued, confirming that they were “personal” issues. “It gave me some peace, some calmness, and it calmed my mind. It changed my way of thinking.”

Jon further stated that he met Total Meditation producer Kabir Sehgal at around that time, and that they have more meditation music that are yet to be released. The album gave him a new sense of purpose, he shared, which is to help people.

He and Barkley also touched on the stigma of mental health in the Black community, with Jon saying that they were brought up to “just man up, get over it, deal with it” rather than “addressing the issues and moving forward.” He said, “We just kind of put them in a closet and never deal with it. And once you deal with it and you understand your issues, that’s how you can get past them and move on.”

Watch the full interview above.