May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and to celebrate it, Grammy Award-winning rapper, producer, and DJ, Lil Jon teamed up with Natural Vitality, a wellness supplement brand that offers magnesium-based products.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… Is Lil Jon, the King of Krunk, doing meditation? Yes, two years ago, the hip-hop artist focused more on his mental health. That prompted him to share several albums of guided meditations. Total Meditation dropped in February, and now, Manifest Abundance: Affirmations for Personal Growth.
The multi-platinum producer and the leading magnesium supplement brand joined to foster accessibility to mental well-being resources and galvanize dialogue between the community and mental health organizations during his Manifest Abundance album retreat.
Lil Jon’s second meditation album, Manifest Abundance, continues to expand Lil Jon’s passion for mental health awareness. The album features 11 tracks centered around manifestation and affirmations, which is a testament to how vital the topic is to the musician.
“Mental health, physical health, and wellness is a priority to me and somethin’ I’ve become very passionate about… spreading the knowledge I have gained to others that may not have normally been exposed to the information makes me feel good inside. Lowering stress and detaching from the matrix should be paramount for everyone around the world. I encourage everyone to take a pause, have some deep breaths, smile – and if you need it – seek mental health and wellness resources,” shared Lil Jon. “I wanna be someone to advocate for the importance of prioritizing mental wellbeing – for all – so they know there are ways you can take care of your mind, and using Natural Vitality has been an amazing part of that mental health journey for me!”
I attended Lil Jon’s Manifest Abundance album retreat, in which those who were in attendance experienced mindfulness-centered programming such as massages and sound baths, learned more about crystals, and overall, really honed into one’s inner peace.
“Were so inspired by Lil Jon’s first meditation album and his vulnerability and willingness to really share his practices that we thought it was just an amazing way to provide tools and resources to support people’s mental being,” said Nicole Ng, Marketing Lead at Natural Vitality. “So this partnership is all about championing those conversations and sharing those tools and resources with everybody, inclusive of meditation magnesium as well as highlighting conversations about any other support people might need.”
Midway through the event, guests also received a guided meditation led by Lil Jon. “Now, I’m not your typical meditation guru,” the rapper said in a room of 100 guests. “But I’m going to share with you all some of the affirmations I constantly tell myself.” Those three affirmations are: ‘I am happy, healthy, and at peace.’
He went on to say how taking breaks is vital for our health and mental space. “We all need a break,” he mentioned. “We all need a little release. We all need to turn off the phone to detach from the matrix. A little bit here and there, we always focusing on everybody else. We all need time for ourselves. It’s okay to focus on you.”
After the meditation, a discussion occurred between Lil Jon and mental health expert, Chicago School of Professional Psychology Adjunct Professor Dr. Patrice Le Goy, LMFT.
Dr. Le Goy also really expressed the importance of prioritizing our mental health. “The Black and Brown communities that are affected by mental health seek help at a much lower rate than other communities,” said Dr. Le Goy. “Because they’re dealing with so many stressors. There’s intergenerational trauma, there are community issues that are happening, there’s facial trauma, and so we know that there’s a great need that is not being met. So, part of this event is to show that someone like Lil Jon, who people might admire and is very successful, struggled, and he’s trying to find ways.”
Towards the end of the event, Ng from Natural Vitality shared how wellness brandwas also able to share the event with Open Paths, a counseling center in Inglewood, CA. They gifted Open Path a $100,000 contribution, enough to finance 1,500 hours of mental health services from three counselors to help the Black and Brown communities.
Sierra Smith, Executive Director of Open Paths Counseling Center, conveyed her gratitude for Lil Jon and Natural Vitality.
“Being a part of the event has been huge for us. One of the wonderful parts about the fact that Lil Jon is sharing his process of meditation and emotional well-being with the world is that it really helps to destigmatize caring for one’s emotional well-being,” said Smith.
Smith added, “the donation from Natural Vitality to Open Paths Counseling Center is going to underwrite the cost of hiring 3 therapists of color part time for one year and that’s huge because one of the things that we find in our center is for a lot of people of color with our largest population being the Latino community followed by Black African American, they often come to us looking for a therapist as culturally similar, culturally aligned to them.”