{"id":1235567223,"date":"2026-05-22T11:45:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=1235567223"},"modified":"2026-05-22T14:41:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:41:53","slug":"leven-kali-new-music-lk99-beyonce-quincy-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/leven-kali-new-music-lk99-beyonce-quincy-jones-1235567223\/","title":{"rendered":"After Collabs With Beyonc\u00e9 and Advice From Quincy Jones, Leven Kali Wants to Inspire You"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! -->\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tIf you scroll through <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/kacey-musgraves-james-blake-kim-gordon-songs-you-need-to-know-1235530013\/\"  >Leven Kali\u2019s<\/a> iPhone camera roll, you\u2019ll find old camcorder videos of him as a two-year-old toddler, wide-eyed and grinning in front of a tiny toy drum set. His mom excitedly cheers him on as he bangs the instrument, a bit off-beat. \u201cI still have memories of that kit, the way that pedal felt and the way that the sticks would feel,\u201d Kali tells<em> Rolling Stone<\/em> while looking at the video, smiling through his tinted sunglasses<em>.<\/em> \u201cThe drumstick bag that I see in the video, I still have.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tNow, at 31, Kali has a more advanced sense of rhythm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tThe multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, who rocks an early era Maxwell \u2018fro, plays drums, plucks bass, and sings about the ups and downs of love and consumerism on his new album, <em>LK99.<\/em> The title came to Kali after learning about numerology while going down YouTube rabbit holes: \u201cEvery significant number in our universe boils down to the number nine,\u201d Kali says, naming off the nine-ish planets, nine months of pregnancy,<strong> <\/strong>and the 180 degrees-rule for triangles<strong> <\/strong>as examples. \u201cSo that fucked me up a while ago, and I was just like, \u2018Wow, like, nine is so important.\u201d The album<em> <\/em>is technically Kali\u2019s third LP, coming after 2019\u2019s <em>Low Tide<\/em> and 2020\u2019s <em>HIGHTIDE<\/em>. In many ways, he considers the former albums as lessons in how to make music. \u201cI could feel my own journey kind of coming to this end of a chapter,\u201d Kali says of making <em>LK99<\/em>, \u201cbut really the beginning of a new era.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tIn the six years between albums, Kali\u2019s learning process has included encounters with some of the biggest names in music. He\u2019s written for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/beyonce\/\"  >Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/playboi-carti-profile-1142354\/\"  >Playboi Cart<\/a>i, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/jazmine-sullivan-heaux-tales-review-1112810\/\"  >Jazmine Sullivan<\/a>, and there are other pioneers who\u2019ve given him sage advice. \u201cI&#8217;ve spent time with George Clinton [and] Quincy Jones and they&#8217;ll say, \u2018I&#8217;m just getting started\u2019 \u2026.If you really want to be one of those ones, you have to feel like a beginner all the time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tBorn in a town outside of Amsterdam but raised in Southern California, Kali lost interest in his childhood drumset when he was a teenager. He came from a musically inclined family \u2014 his mom loves singing; his father, Jerry &#8220;Wyzard&#8221; Seay, played bass for Atlanta funk band Mother\u2019s Finest; and his childhood pet cockatoo was named Hendrix. But Kali, instead, focused on golf, which earned him a Division I scholarship at UC Riverside. However, his musical dreams returned to him in the form of SoundCloud in 2015, when he started making music in his dorm room. His talent quickly caught the attention of the music industry. \u201cI got contacted by G.O.O.D. Music,\u201d Kali says, remembering the pivotal moment when <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/kanye-west\/\"  >Kanye West<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/travis-scott-utopia-fatherhood-next-album-1235500436\/\"  >Travis Scott <\/a>showed interest in his producing ability while he was still on scholarship. \u201cThey were like, \u2018you\u2019re making gospel-trap music?\u2019 and I was like \u2018I gotta go to school, man.\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-full alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1024px\">\n\n\t\t\t\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  lrv-u-border-a-2\">\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((683\/1024)*100%);\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leven-kali-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"683\" width=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-align-items-center\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"u-border-color-black u-border-lr-2 lrv-u-padding-tb-025 lrv-u-padding-lr-075 lrv-u-border-b-2 lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-text-align-center a-font-basic-secondary-s\">Leven Kali plays his guitar on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California on April 24, 2026.<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-a-font-body-xs lrv-u-margin-t-050 lrv-u-text-align-center\">Anna Sophia Moltke for Rolling Stone<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tOver time, Kali worked his way back to the scene. He spent time trying to do it all: early morning wake-ups for sports workouts and class before making the hour commute to L.A. to work in studios. Kali eventually stepped away from school and pursued music full-time. \u201cI made a deal with my parents, like, if I don\u2019t have shit popping in a year, then I\u2019ll go back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tWith his ability to seamlessly blend genres, Kali stayed off the greens and began working on the music that would eventually become his debut, <em>Low Tide<\/em>, from 2019<em>.<\/em> His follow up<strong>,<em> <\/em><\/strong><em>Hightide<\/em>, was released in the middle of the pandemic, just weeks before the murder of George Floyd. \u201cI finished the album. We put it out. You know, the world froze, then got lit on fire,\u201d Kali says. \u201cThen I got dropped [from my label].\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tWithout being able to promote and tour, Kali found solace collaborating and creating songs for other artists. \u201cI sent like a pack of beats to Jazmine Sullivan, maybe I sent like two beats,\u201d Kali says. \u201cShe liked one of them, she sent me back like the most insane vocal I&#8217;ve ever heard in my life\u2026 I was like, \u2018Well, this is so easy. Send beats to somebody and they send it back.\u2019 \u2026That&#8217;s only how it works with Jazmine.\u201d Their collaboration resulted in \u201cTragic,\u201d a song off Sullivan\u2019s Deluxe version of <em>Heaux Tales.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tKali continued to write for others before locking in for <em>LK99<\/em>, resulting in credits on Beyonce\u2019s <em><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/beyonce-renaissance-review-1386200\/\"  >Renaissance<\/a><\/em> (\u201cAlien Superstar,\u201d \u201cPlastic Off The Sofa,\u201d and \u201cVirgo\u2019s Groove\u201d) and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/beyonce-cowboy-carter-review-1234996919\/\"  ><em>Cowboy Carter<\/em> <\/a>(\u201cBodyguard\u201d). Kali says he learned the \u201cability to discern\u201d between moments that can\u2019t be replaced in recordings and moments that need repetition to be perfect. \u201cI think sometimes people maybe have a fear of being judged [if they] didn&#8217;t do it in the first few tries\u2026 It&#8217;s like, \u2018man, I&#8217;ve seen people that are way doper than you do it 100 times.\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:819px\">\n\n\t\t\t\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  lrv-u-border-a-2\">\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1024\/819)*100%);\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leven-kali-2.jpg?w=819\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"1024\" width=\"819\" decoding=\"async\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-align-items-center\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"u-border-color-black u-border-lr-2 lrv-u-padding-tb-025 lrv-u-padding-lr-075 lrv-u-border-b-2 lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-text-align-center a-font-basic-secondary-s\">Leven Kali dancing on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California on April 24, 2026.<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-a-font-body-xs lrv-u-margin-t-050 lrv-u-text-align-center\">Anna Sophia Moltke for Rolling Stone<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\t<em>LK99 <\/em>leads off with \u201cBreathe!\u201d which feels like<em> a <\/em>Salt-N-Pepa-led<em> <\/em>breathwork session before switching off into wah-wah pedal bliss. Kali moved into<em> <\/em>Parliament Funkadelic-style interludes in \u201cStars, Stripes and Credit Card Swipes\u201d before shifting into the neo-jazz melody of \u201cRemedy,\u201d reminiscent of Sade\u2019s \u201cNo Ordinary Love\u201d and later whisks its way into 2000s soft-rock guitar strums on the album\u2019s seventh track \u201cJus a Lil\u2019 Bit.\u201d Instead of features, Kali elects to pitch his voice up and down to give the album texture: During \u201cStars, Stripes and Credit Card Swipes,\u201d his voice goes low, resembling a funk radio disc jockey warning about materialism. On album closer \u201cWithout You,\u201d he pitches himself higher for sweetness as he tells his significant other that the only necessity in this world is their love. Kali describes the full musical journey as simply \u201csoul.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tDespite spending years prior in collaboration and having features from Syd, Ty Dolla $ign, and Smino in previous albums, Kali kept <em>LK99 <\/em>to himself. \u201cIt just felt clean,\u201d he says but he teases that later iterations of the album will have \u201cfriends\u201d joining the <em>LK99<\/em> songs on special presses of the album. \u201cLucky Daye is on \u2018Pieces,\u2019 on the remix coming\u201d he reveals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \"\n>\n\tIn his era of new beginnings and endings, Kali is most excited for listeners to feel inspired by the new music. \u201cThere&#8217;s a lot of mistakes on this album that I kept on purpose.\u201d With intentionally flat and sharp notes, Kali hopes those little flaws create space in a world where the perfection of AI is constantly being pushed in every direction. \u201cI just wanted there to be the inspiration to be unapologetically real,\u201d he says, \u201dand just feel something that feels like you met someone that allowed you to be your real self.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a six-year break from solo work, the multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter renews his sound on his third LP <em>LK99<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":562,"featured_media":1235567230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":["elisebrisco1"],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":0,"subcategories":6,"pmc-gallery":[],"pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"Leven Kali on Beyonc\u00e9, Quincy Jones, and His New Album 'LK99'","mt_seo_description":"After a six-year break from solo work, the multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter renews his sound on his third LP 'LK99.'","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_pmc_newsletter_bna_selected_alerts":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_subject_override":"","_pmc_newsletter_bna_alert_configs":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_send_override":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-05-22T15:46:05Z","apple_news_api_id":"bc056d05-1872-4cb0-8341-1241666b06ab","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-05-22T18:41:59Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AvAVtBRhyTLCDQRJBZmsGqw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pitched":false,"_pitched_by":"","_pitched_timestamp":"","_pitched_by_name":"","_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related Content","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":{"text":"AR","badge":"artists"},"_pmc_kicker":[],"pmc_multiple_products_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[37790,7308,11375,60788],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[42983],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"story-arc":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[53262],"class_list":["post-1235567223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-features","tag-artist-you-need-to-know","tag-beyonce","tag-jazmine-sullivan","tag-leven-kali"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/leven-kali-new-music-lk99-beyonce-quincy-jones-1235567223\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"After Collabs With Beyonc\u00e9 and Advice From Quincy Jones, Leven Kali Wants to Inspire You","url":"http:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/leven-kali-new-music-lk99-beyonce-quincy-jones-1235567223\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/leven-kali-new-music-lk99-beyonce-quincy-jones-1235567223\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leven-kali-LEAD.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leven-kali-LEAD.jpg"},"articleSection":"Music Features","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elise Brisco"}],"creator":["Elise Brisco"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Rolling Stone","logo":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-Rolling-Stone-Favicon.png"},"keywords":["artist you need to know","beyonc\u00e9","jazmine sullivan","leven kali"],"dateCreated":"2026-05-22T15:45:58Z","datePublished":"2026-05-22T15:45:58Z","dateModified":"2026-05-22T18:41:53Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"