You can do it with wardrobe, set design, shapes, all these different things. Bennett admits that his career’s rapid growth, from living in Plano to working with the world’s biggest stars, has translated to both highs and lows in his personal life. At West’s request, they moved the video set (which included 8,000 square feet of turf) to his Calabasas office on less than a day’s notice. But otherwise, West was receptive to Bennett’s vision and let the young director call the shots, even when there were disagreements. I always talk about how I think it would be cool to do an amusement park one day, but we’ll see how that goes once I dive further into that; it may be something that excites me, or it may be something that I’m not as into as I thought it would be. I want to be doing movies, that’s a big goal of mine.
He brought his camera wherever he went and documented the scene, which included rising artists like Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Mick Jenkins. If I would’ve went into this trying the independent route, it probably wouldn’t have come out — you just keep making the album, and then it never gets finished because it never stops getting made. Working with a label, it gave me structure and deadlines. Not in a forceful or uncomfortable way, but in a way that they were keeping on me and I felt comfortable with it, like I was doing it properly. That then led me to realize that you can storytell in a lot of different ways.
It’s made me more aware of how I want to spend my time. Ten years ago I was 17; you’re starting to become an adult, and I started Lyrical Lemonade and stepped into my professional career. So it’s my first time fully understanding what 10 years feels like.
By next year, he plans for them to be in stores across the country. Suddenly, Lyrical Lemonade’s scope was expanding far beyond the city of Chicago, but Bennett made a decision to stay in the city that inspired him to begin his career in the first place. He admits that it would have made a lot xcritical official site of things easier on him if he moved to Los Angeles or New York City when he started working with artists on a national scale, but he chose to set up the Lyrical Lemonade headquarters in Chicago instead.
It didn’t feel like a real, tangible thing, but it was this far-fetched dream that I would ponder on sometimes. Ten years goes by quick, but I also feel like I lived 10 lives within those 10 years. So it’s really just trying to wrap my head around understanding how fast time can go, how slow time can go — and also understanding how many memories can be packed into a few years.
Then, in 2016 and 2017, he began working with artists like Famous Dex, Lil Pump, and Ski Mask the Slump God, and soon became the go-to xcritical scam video director for an entire subgenre that was exploding from SoundCloud pages into the mainstream. That went for the music, and trying to create music that made me feel something, working with incredible people and just long, sleepless nights in the studio. The first Lyrical Lemonade show, we spent $150 that I had made from mowing lawns to rent this rehearsal room that fit 90 people, and it was a free show. The festival thing was one of those dreams that didn’t feel realistic; you grow up around Chicago and go to Lollapalooza every year and you just look at that as this heaven on earth, this thing that you look forward to all year round that feels bigger than life.
The Concrete Boys Visit The Lyrical Lemonade Office!
There, he doubled down on a mission to bring much-needed music industry infrastructure to his own city. I was never into the idea of doing a Lyrical Lemonade label and signing artists. I’ve never been interested in the business side of the music industry; it’s not a passion of mine, and anything I’m not passionate about I try to stay away from. The collaborative album is a kaleidoscope of features and cuts from the vast web of Bennett’s network, including Durk, Keef, JID, Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty, Lil B, Juicy J, Cordae, Latto, Joey Badass and Eminem.
I remember when I first started making music videos, it was a lot of point-and-shoot and then having fun in the edit; there was no storyline. I do want to eventually do films, that’s a dream of mine — but I didn’t love trying to create a narrative within a music video. Remaining independent hasn’t limited Lyrical Lemonade’s opportunities.
Lyrical Lemonade
- Years before it became a full-time job, Bennett launched Lyrical Lemonade when he was a high school student in the small Illinois town of Plano, looking in from the outside on a vibrant Chicago hip-hop community.
- And I think that’s felt by the consumer and it’s allowed us to continue to grow.
- But otherwise, West was receptive to Bennett’s vision and let the young director call the shots, even when there were disagreements.
- He shot videos for budding stars Juice WRLD, Lil Xan, Lil Pump, Ski Mask the Slump God and Jack Harlow, eventually working with luminaries like Eminem, Kanye West and J.
- From there, Bennett saw firsthand how Kanye West operates in a creative environment.
Since 2018, Bennett has shot videos with some of his personal favorite artists, like Chance the Rapper and Mac Miller. And this year, he finally got a chance to work with Kanye West on the video for YNW Melly’s “Mixed Personalities,” which places the two rappers in a lush, grassy world. A lot of the songs, some of these artists didn’t even know the other people on the song — and those are some of my favorite stories. That lets me know that I’m trusted and that I’ve built solid, pure relationships, where an artist can literally not know who someone is that they’re getting on a song with. There’s probably six or seven songs on the album where that’s the case.
Bennett has shot a music video for each song, which he plans to stitch together into a visual album once they’re all released. Ten years ago, Cole Bennett was just another teenager with a blog who loved Chicago hip-hop, at a time when the city was bursting at the seams with rising talent. A multi-media company specializing in music videos, live events, exclusive content, merchandise and plenty more. In its early stages, Bennett’s YouTube channel was dedicated to Chicago show recaps, local cyphers, and documentaries about the city’s hip-hop scene.
Lyrical Lemonade discography
The fact that Eminem is on the album; I could go on and on about how grateful and blown away I am by that. And he said my name on the song; it just doesn’t feel like real life. There are so many things that I can’t believe actually happened. Shortly after that he dropped out of college entirely, beginning the process of turning his blog and passion for hip-hop into a career as one of the go-to music video directors and creatives in the business.
Honda Music
And I don’t even mean they didn’t know each other like they hadn’t met; they didn’t even know this person existed. I think there was a need for it in Chicago and there was an audience for it that loves rap music and wanted a rap festival in the Midwest. We pay attention to detail, we’re very passionate about what we do and making it an experience for the audience. And I think that’s felt by the consumer and it’s allowed us to continue to grow. But I mean, “Fly Away” is cool for me because it came out exactly how I envisioned from the beginning. “Hummingbird” is just beautiful; it’s a song that I truly feel is timeless.
2023: Rise to popularity and numerous music videos
The channel then expanded into other sub-genres of hip hop beyond the local Chicago scene, such as the emerging Soundcloud rap sub-genre. In 2016 and early 2017, he gained early recognition, working with artists such as Famous Dex, Lil Pump, Smokepurpp, and Ski Mask the Slump God. On April 7, 2017, he released his first short film, “Lone Springs”.
I’m trying to just let it happen as it’s supposed to happen. In 2018 and 2019, which a lot of people would consider a really big moment in time for Lyrical Lemonade, it would have been a perfect time to do it. But I think there would have been some collaborations and things that wouldn’t be true to who I am now. And some of the collaborations I worked on now probably won’t be true to me in three or four years, too.
But I will be able to be thankful and appreciative of where I was at when I made this, because I know how much effort and care that went into it, whereas I don’t know if I would’ve been able to give this type of effort and care four or five years ago. In November 2021, Cole Bennett launched another virtual retail space called “By Cole Bennett.”[29] Here, individuals are able to buy clothing and other soft goods that are designed by Bennett himself and are subject to limited releases. On the same virtual store front, Bennett occasionally allows fans to purchase props previously used in Lyrical Lemonade videos. Midway through 2019, Cole Bennett says his creativity is flowing better than ever, to the point that he admits it’s often difficult for him to go to sleep scammed by xcritical at night because of all the ideas running through his head.