Cole Bennett may not be a household name, but you’ve probably seen his work. The 22-year-old has been directing music videos for years and has worked with some of the internet’s most popular rappers, including Juice WRLD, Lil Pump and Lil Skies.
He launched Lyrical Lemonade in 2013, a multimedia company that specializes in music videos. Recently the brand has expanded to sell merchandise and has even hosted live shows.
Bennett began his career by filming live shows in Chicago and eventually transitioned to working on music videos for local artists. During his sophomore year in college he taught himself an animation technique he had seen in a music video which soon became his signature style.
After gaining some experience working with local artists, Bennett shot a video for Famous Dex, one of Chicago’s most popular rappers at the time. The video racked up millions of views and opened up new opportunities for Bennett.
When older rappers from Chicago started approaching Bennett to do their videos it was like a dream come true for him. He had the opportunity to work with artists he had been listening to growing up, and he continued to hone his craft when making their videos.
Bennett prefers to work with more underground artists rather than well-established ones to have more creative freedom. Although this means passing up on opportunities to work with some big name artists, many of the artists he’s worked with have skyrocketed in popularity.
Take Juice WRLD for example. Bennett directed the video for the Chicago rapper’s song “Lucid Dreams” which went on to become one of the most played songs of 2018. It is the most popular video on Lyrical Lemonade’s YouTube channel with over 330 million views.
Although it took years of hard work, Cole Bennett was able to establish his place in today’s music scene and it doesn’t look like he plans on leaving anytime soon.