April 07, 2022 essay

Hip-hop, music, and mental wellness. This Okayplayer article by Elijah Watson discusses the growing role of black musicians in meditation apps:

How Black Musicians Are Creating Soundtracks For Popular Meditation Apps

I try my best to practice mindfulness however I only used one app (with speaking meditations), so I hadn’t noticed the trend this article discusses.

If you prefer short-form content, check out my Twitter thread instead.

Headspace advertisement for Madlib music

Madlib is but one example of how Black musicians are creating — and curating — music for some of today’s most popular meditation apps and, in the process, redefining what meditative music can sound like.

Watson dives deep and explores the musical contributions and different sounds being created by artists like Madlib, John Legend, Aluna Francis (of AlunaGeorge), Toro Y Moi, Moses Sumney and more.

Mindfulness and mindful meditation make a big difference for me, and if partnerships and collaborations like these help draw in more mindful heads, that’ll be amazing.

PASSAGE

Beyond this article is the amazing PASSAGE initiative which Okayplayer kicked off last February.

The initiative consists of interviews, curated music, a short film, and even an EP.

An archive of the components of the initiative can be found here: PASSAGE Archives

PASSAGE EP album cover

And just in case, here’s a direct link to the EP: PASSAGE.

The project features guided meditations voiced by artists including BIG K.R.I.T., DejaJoelle, Kwasi Kessie, Kenji Summers, and more.

And with that, meditate, meditate, meditate!

(I can’t decide if my blog title is a reference to Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole).

What's Next?

As I continue to catch up, I’ve got a few more mini posts like this left in the vault... but I've also got an in-depth breakdown of a pop-up website by an amazing artist coming up very soon.

Stay tuned!