Now may be the time to shift the tide and see 6LACK as a person who advocates for bliss — especially for those in the Black community. In order to achieve meaningful work, he must be inspired by every aspect of his life. We all know and love 6LACK as the artist who releases back-to-back hits and collaborates with our favorite musicians. Instead, he’s recently released different versions of the same songs for listeners to meditate, study, and relax to.
Tell me about some of your favorite discussion points with Sadhguru.
My favorite part of it was the different perspectives and talking about the same thing but from two different angles. I actually got to learn a little bit more than I got to share my perspective which was cool because I come from a space of normally being the person that people come to. So having a moment to sit back and listen to somebody with a lot more experience and wisdom was my favorite part. It was a listening session for me.
Were there any commonalities that you two had when it came to mental health and love?
I think the idea of being loved and making that a part of your everyday life and everyday practice. That has been the constant driving force behind everything that I do creatively, and I know as a yogi it has to be the center of who you are, so that’s definitely where we connected.
What do you think makes you and Sadhguru different?
I would say that the only difference that I could offer to that discussion is that sometimes when you come from different backgrounds or different areas, the hurdles that you have to go through in order to attain a level of peace or a certain amount of love is just a little bit harder to tackle. The focus on being loved when there are so many distractions and we live in the social media era where news is flying at us 24/7. Coming from a younger generation where there’s a lot more for us to sift through and filter through – that’s where I would say we’re a little bit different. I have a little bit more of an understanding and compassion for just how hard it is to dedicate yourself to that practice.
Was there any piece of advice Sadhguru gave you that really stuck with you?
Honestly, it was aside from the talking points. It was his poise and his patience throughout the discussion. I think that being able to speak clearly and freely only comes from doing so much work on yourself. That was the lasting thing that I noticed throughout the discussion. The way that he’s conditioned is just something that I aspire to be.
You released Since I Have A Lover back in March. What’s the overarching theme of the album?
Since I Have A Lover ties back to the discussion with Yogi Sadhguru. The album is about practice. It’s about figuring out how to be your biggest, best self and how to show up for yourself. It’s about love – and not just romantic love, but self-love. It could be love for a hobby or for a passion. It could be love for a routine, doing something for yourself health-wise…Reminding yourself of who you are outside and the one or two things you may have adapted as a personality. So for me, it was just an album that was made to help me practice getting back to myself and inspire other people to do the same thing.
You took a hiatus to focus on your mental health. During that time, what did healing and taking care of yourself look like?
Sitting with myself sometimes in complete silence and just have those moments where I’m going through everything that I’m thinking or feeling and trying to organize it. After sitting with myself, I was finding something to read; a good book. “The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life” was one of my favorite books during the beginning of that process because I was switching my sleeping patterns and starting to wake up earlier to tackle more of my day before 11 a.m. Besides that, yoga and meditation in the morning. Doing one or both of those makes me feel a lot more prepared for anything that comes at me for the rest of the day. I’ve been running a lot lately – any kind of exercise. Anything except the music was helping me because in order for me to be creatively inspired in music, I’ve just grown to the point where I have to be creatively inspired in every other aspect of my life first.
How long do you think it took you to get back to being musically inspired?
Right around the time I was wrapping up some of my sessions with my therapist who I was also talking to during my process. Once I started to have a better scope of everything that was going on in my life, I just felt better going into the studio. I felt more excited and a weight was off my shoulders and I actually had something worth saying.
You said you hit rock bottom which means something different for everyone. Do you feel like you’re bouncing back and more able to continue working on music?
Absolutely. To this day, it’s still an everyday practice, but the bounce-back has been amazing. I was up at 6:30 this morning for yoga class in Venice, then 8 a.m. meditation, and now I’m doing this nice interview. A lot of stuff has been done before my day really starts. As soon as I get off here I’m going straight to the studio.