Cole Bennett
Bennett in 2022
Personal information
Born	(1996-05-14) May 14, 1996 Plano, Illinois, U.S.
Occupations	Music video director videographer businessman music promoter
Website	lyricallemonade.com
YouTube information
Years active	2013–present
Subscribers	21.4 million (November 12, 2023)
Total views	10.7 billion (September 02, 2023)

Cole Michael Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and videographer. His multimedia company, Lyrical Lemonade, started in 2013 as an Internet blog while he was in high school.^[1]

Early life

Cole Bennett was born on May 14, 1996, in Plano, Illinois. He went to Plano High School and he dropped out of DePaul University to focus on his career in videography and hip hop music, something he wanted to do since childhood.^[2]

Lyrical Lemonade

Bennett originally founded Lyrical Lemonade as an internet blog when he was a high school student in Plano, Illinois. His mother helped him come up with the blog's name and had given him a video camera. He began directing music videos for local Chicago rappers, such as Vic Mensa, Taylor Bennett (no relation), King Louie,^[3] and Ridgio,^[4][5] all of which he uploaded onto the Lyrical Lemonade channel.^[6][7] His channel also featured live show recaps, cyphers, documentaries and interviews.^[8]

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". In August 2017, he directed the music video for the Lil Xan single, "Betrayed", which was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2018.^[9] He later directed numerous music videos for hit songs, which include Ski Mask the Slump God's "BabyWipe", Lil Skies' "Red Roses" and "Nowadays", and YBN Nahmir's "Bounce Out with That".

In May 2018, he directed the music video for Chicago rapper Juice Wrld's "Lucid Dreams", which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[10][11] The video has surpassed 937 million views on YouTube, becoming his most popular video on the channel. He has since worked with mainstream figures in hip hop such as J. Cole,^[12] Wiz Khalifa,^[13] Kanye West,^[14] and Eminem.^[15]

In January 2020, he directed the music video for Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow's breakout single "What's Poppin". In March 2020, he directed the music video for Eminem's hit single "Godzilla".^[16] The video itself features cameos from Dr. Dre and Mike Tyson.^[17] It gained 13 million views in 24 hours.^[18] In December 2020, in his second collaboration with Eminem, Bennett directed the music video for the rapper's single "Gnat".^[19]

In January 2021, he released the music video for Young Thug & Juice World's collaboration "Bad Boy", which had been filmed prior to Juice WRLD's death in 2019. In May, he released a music video for SoFaygo's song "Knock Knock", which was produced by Lil Tecca, who also appears in the music video. Later in 2021, he collaborated with Jacksonville rapper Nardo Wick on the music video for the remix of Wick's hit song "Who Want Smoke?" featuring Lil Durk, 21 Savage, and G Herbo. His final video of the year was for Ski Mask the Slump God's "Alien Sex", released in December of 2021.

In 2022, he began working with rising rapper Yeat, shooting and releasing four different videos with the California native in 2022, the first being the song "Still Countin", the closing track to Yeat's February 2022 album 2 Alive. Another was a trailer for the Illumination June 2022 movie Minions: The Rise of Gru, which featured the original song "Rich Minion". Prior to the trailer's release, Bennett revealed that he had contacted Illumination about using a Yeat song in a trailer for the movie. He also released his first music video with Detroit rapper Babytron on the song "Emperor of the Universe", which featured Babytron rapping on 26 different beats, "Nail Tech" (Jack Harlow), "Ginseng Strip 2002" (Young Lean), "Independent" (Webbie feat. Lil Phat & Boosie), "Run It!" (Chris Brown), "Sittin' Sidewayz" (Paul Wall & Big Pokey), "Sorry Bout That" (Yeat), "Mask Off" (Future), "Mrs. Jackson" (OutKast), "Yeah!" (Usher feat. Ludacris & Lil Jon), "Hard in the Paint" (Waka Flocka Flame), "Freestyle" (Lil Baby), "Forever" (Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem), "FREEDDAWG" (YoungBoy Never Broke Again), "Rubbin off the Paint" (YBN Nahmir), "It Was A Good Day" (Ice Cube), "What Happened to Virgil" (Lil Durk feat. Gunna), "Still D.R.E" (Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg), "Faneto" (Chief Keef), "California Love" (2Pac), "Juicy" (The Notorious B.I.G), and "Bleed It" (Blueface). In the summer of 2022, Bennett released the music video for the Central Cee song "Doja", which marked his first time working with a non-American artist. For each of the songs they used, a unique scene was used, resulting in the video being shot at over 26 locations. In August 2022, he released the video for Lucki's song "COINCIDENCE". Lucki and Bennett had previously worked together on a video released almost a decade prior. On October 22, 2022, Bennett released the music video for Lil Yachty's "Poland_(song)", which was largely shot in New York City. His final music video of the year was the video for the song "My All" by Polo G.

In 2023, his first video was for the Trippie Redd song "Swag Like Ohio (Part 2)" featuring Lil B, with the video being the first time that Bennett and Lil B had worked together. On June 17, 2023, Bennett released his debut short film "whyrush?", which was scored by Teezo Touchdown (who also acted in the film) and a voice-over narration from Rick Rubin. On June 22, 2023, Cole released the music video for the song "Doomsday", a collaboration between Juice WRLD and Cordae. The video features Cordae and Juice WRLD's likeness digitally rendered onto Cordae at a few during Juice WRLD's parts of the song. The song was released as the first single for the first official Lyrical Lemonade album. Two subsequent singles (as well as accompanying videos) were released, "Guitar In My Room" by Kid Cudi and Lil Durk and "Hello There" by Corbin, Lil Tracy, and Black Kray. "Hello There" is inspired by Blink-182's "I Miss You", with "Hello There" interpolating numerous lyrics from "I Miss You" and is the first time Cole collaborated with Corbin and Black Kray. Both videos feature the artists performing on a stage with a lemon-yellow colored curtain. On October 6, 2023 Bennett released the music video for the song "Another Late Night" by Drake, a first time collaborator, and Lil Yachty. On Halloween/October 31, 2023, Bennett released the music video for "Fighting My Demons" by Ken Carson.

Impact

Lyrical Lemonade has contributed to the rise of various rappers such as Lil Pump (left) and Ski Mask the Slump God (right).

Bennett's Lyrical Lemonade frequently promotes and contributes to the rise of upcoming rappers.^[20] Examples of this include Lil Pump, whose appearance on Lyrical Lemonade elevated his popularity to a certain extent.^[21] Other examples include Pump's friend and frequent collaborator Smokepurpp, Juice Wrld, Ski Mask the Slump God, YNW Melly, Lil Tecca, NLE Choppa, Lil Mosey, and Jack Harlow.^[22]

Pitchfork named Ski Mask the Slump God's 2017 "Catch Me Outside" music video, which was directed by Bennett, one of their favorite music videos of the 2010s.^[23]

Other ventures

Bennett has also ventured into creating merchandise and lemonade beverages under the Lyrical Lemonade name. He said, "I really want to compete with Minute Maid and all of the elite lemonade and juice companies and I really think we can do that."^[24]

In February 2020, Lyrical Lemonade collaborated with Jordan Brand.^[25] The collection included an Aerospace 720 shoe, a hooded sweatshirt, and a long sleeve t-shirt.^[26] In April 2020, Lyrical Lemonade collaborated with streetwear brand FTP. The collection included a hooded sweatshirt, a t-shirt, and co-branded cans of lemonade.^[27]

In November 2021, Cole Bennett launched another virtual retail space called "by cole bennett."^[28] 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.

Bennett hosts a music festival called Summer Smash every year. It is presented by independent Chicago-based event production label SPKRBX.^[29]

Accolades

Partial videography

References