Leven Kali on ‘LK99,’ Meditation and Why Water Is Power

Leven Kali is feeling a lot more centered these days.

In the last couple of years, the Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer has dived deeper into his meditation journey. In between making music for himself or others, he grounds himself on a yoga mat and a good book.

Lately, he’s been into nonfiction works about spirituality. “There are a few books I highly recommend to everyone,” Kali says. “Breathe, You Are Alive by Thich Nhat Hanh talks about how you can incorporate meditation into your Western, busy life and the importance of recognizing the breath.” He continues, “Then the Autobiography of a Yogi is a story of Paramahansa Yogananda. He’s the guy who brought [yoga] to America in the 1920s.”

Kali’s book recommendations are a deep dive into the subject matter of “Breathe,” the opening track to his third album, LK99, out now via Def Jam. It’s the Dutch-born artist’s first full-length project since 2020’s HIGHTIDE, which was preceded by his 2019 debut, Low Tide. A lot has changed for Kali since then.

After parting ways with his former label, Interscope Records, he went independent and released his Let It Rain EP (2022). The project arrived three months after the world heard his contributions to Beyonce’s culture-shifting album Renaissance. He co-produced “Virgo’s Groove,” “Plastic Off the Sofa,” “Alien Superstar” and “Summer Renaissance.”

If that wasn’t enough, he also co-wrote “Bodyguard” on Bey’s Cowboy Carter, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Besides Beyonce, Kali has also produced for Coco Jones (“AEOMG”), Destin Conrad (“Luv N Devotion”) and Samm Henshaw (“Don’t Give It Up”), among others.

In 2025, Kali previewed what to expect from his next musical era with his EP, LK99: The Prelude. The mini project includes a few songs also featured on the album, including “Are U Still,” “Pieces” and “Sleepwalking,” as well as gems such as “Blackrock.”

LK99 is a fluid collection of grooves that not only move the body but also stimulate the mind and soothe the soul. Ahead of his upcoming LK99 Tour, Leven Kali spoke with Rated R&B about his third album, his spiritual connection to water and the story behind a few tracks.

With LK99 being your first album in six years. Why now?

It felt like the right time. I have no rhyme to the reason. I was enjoying what I was creating. I was able to communicate in a clearer way than before — just confidence and clarity. I feel like this is a good time to be saying something because everyone’s talking about what’s going on, but I’d rather put it in the music.

When did you start working on the album?

The oldest record came from a trip we took to Lake Arrowhead in March 2024. At that point, it wasn’t really nonstop working on the album. I was still working on some other people’s projects and figuring some things out. But then, from maybe the fall of 2024 until now, it’s been LK99 time.

Which song is the oldest?

There are two joints from that trip: “Without You” and “Grab It.”

What does the title LK99 represent?

The number nine has spiritual and universal significance. I was put onto that a few years ago, just seeing all the measurements in numbers and things that kind of hold our universe together, that somehow, through numerology, reduce down to the number nine. And how through a lot of mythology and theology, there’s a lot of reference to nine archangels or nine gods in Norse mythology, or all sorts of things that have to do with nine. You have nine months of pregnancy; the cat has nine lives. It stuck to me and became something I was seeing in my own life: the significance of it being the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new cycle and how it’s the highest digit. It felt like where I was at. I was closing a chapter in my life and also starting a new one at the same time. It really feels like the beginning more than the end, but it did feel like a culmination, too. So that was my symbol for that moment in my life: LK99.

Does that also apply to your artistry?

Yeah, but it’s like a spin around the cycle. It’s me, but it’s more evolved. It’s a new era, but I’m not throwing away what I did in the past. It’s all there to remind me of where I’ve been and help me go further in the right direction. It’s still stuff about water. Love is water. You can’t live without it.

How do you feel you’ve evolved from your last album to LK99?

I was definitely in a more wide-eyed, bushy-tailed period in my life. Low Tide and HIGHTIDE were supposed to be EPs. I was learning how to make music. I freshly dropped out of college because there was so much going on. I was excited about the opportunities. I was newly in love with recording, and I made so much music that those ended up being way too long to be EPs. There wasn’t as much intention going into it. I was like, “I’m going to follow my instincts and see where God takes me. Then I’ll make sense of it in the end.” This time feels different because I’ve spent a long time now — and I still feel like a baby in it — working on the craft. I feel like I was able to be way more intentional with this music. I was able to at least try to have a plan for an album.

Earlier, you said “Grab It” was one of the first songs you worked on for the album. What inspired it?

At the time, we were writing some songs about materialism and trying to make it sexy. We caught a really cool groove. It was snowing, and we were in the mountains in Lake Arrowhead, and there was a storm literally coming towards us; you could see it approaching the house. We had this beautiful view over the lake and the valley, and the record talks about a little bit of that.

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“Remedy” is such a feel-good record. It’s very reminiscent of Sade.

For sure. She’s one of, if not my favorite, artists or singers. I was pulling from so much on that because that’s just what it is, we’re filtering our inspirations through us. I’m not ashamed to see those comments or reactions because, to me, the highest honor is to try and show love to the GOATs. It’s a healing feeling.

What did you want to achieve when making “Remedy”?

“Remedy” is the healing anthem for me. It is the love song on the album: love in the relationship, love with God and love with nature. It feels refreshing. It was such a joy to write and make that song. It feels like something that already existed that we just dusted off.

When you’re making music that heals, where are you pulling from?

All the things that make me feel safe, excited, healed, human, refreshed, natural and real. That is the best place for music to come from.

What would you say is one thing that makes you feel that way?

These themes that we’ve been talking about: breathing, nature, love, family, all of that. Water is a big one. Water is power. Just taking a shower sometimes will change your whole day. Something’s in the water, literally. I get some of my best ideas in the shower.

Some of the best ideas come to you in the shower. It definitely helps me if I have writer’s block.

The amount of voice memos that I have — my phone is on the counter and I’ll reach out and grab it. You hear the shower in the background. There’s probably a few of the songs on this album that started off from a shower voice memo. I believe water holds memory for humanity. I also believe we don’t come up with any new ideas. I think everything is recycled and shared. When you get in the water, I think there’s something happening with maybe our magnetic field or our electric field in the water and it taps into the memory of all of us.

Speaking of water, talk to us about “Raining Sun.”

I made that record with a very talented close friend of mine, Alissia, and finished it off with Sol [Wes]. It was an incredible time making that song super funky. You remember that video when Kid Cudi is dancing at Coachella with MGMT? I wanted one of those. That was another example of taking a lot of the state of today and putting it into lyrics. And it says, “Bad news, keep on breaking / So tell me something good / I can’t take it.”

Before we wrap up, I have to take it back to LK99: The Prelude. “Blackrock” is absolutely brilliant. Why did you decide to leave it off the album?

The issue was that it could only exist as an intro. That ain’t no track 8, you know what I mean? So I wanted to give of myself and the fans a different experience from the EP to the album. There was nowhere else to put that record than the intro, but I will do something special for that record. I love that song so much. It really speaks to who I am and where my head was at.

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Where was your head when you were making it?

Well, it’s funny because there’s been different artists and people talking about Black rock music. I kept hearing the term Black rock. I thought it was funny how it sounded like the acquisition firm BlackRock. I was thinking about how much influence they have on our everyday lives through their investments and business practices, and how it trickles down to us. I had been hanging out with George Clinton, and he’s so good at speaking about what’s going on politically, socially and culturally in a way that doesn’t feel preachy, which makes it fun; that rubbed off on me. It was literally the first session after I got back from Tallahassee and Sol, JJ [Scheff] and I were talking about BlackRock and all that. I was just got in the bag and wrote: “The CIA already got your mind / Now when you open your eyes, all you see is AI.” It kept going and it felt natural. It’s the type of shit I talk about all the time. So I was like, “I have to put it in my records.”

What message do you want to leave listeners with LK99?

I want to inspire whatever feels real to somebody. In an era for all of us where it’s like AI and rage bait, clickbait, fake shit everywhere. What are the things in your life that make you feel real, no matter what chaos is going on, what grounds you, what makes you feel real? And I want you to feel that when you’re listening to this. I want you to have fun and be inspired.

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Stream Leven Kali’s LK99.