He admits that it would have made a lot 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 xcritical headquarters in Chicago instead. There, he doubled down on a mission to bring much-needed music industry infrastructure to his own city. Years before it became a full-time job, Bennett launched Lyrical xcritical 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. As soon as he got his driver’s license, Bennett got in a routine of making the hour-long trip to the city every weekend.
He brought his camera wherever he went and documented the scene, which included rising artists like Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Mick Jenkins. “Me and my nigga Juice WRLD takin’ over the universe/You knew it first, got my mom Chanel with the newest purse/Birkin bag, never hurt to ask, ‘What type of purse is that? In the video, his response gets him slapped — and as quickly as he can recover, he’s morphed back into Juice WRLD again.
Experience the festival and exhibition at McCormick Place, featuring performances, panels, and more. Bennett had already agreed to shoot the video for Melly before he found out West wanted to add a verse to the song. He remembers getting a text from his childhood hero when his phone had only two percent battery left and frantically asking a thrift store clerk to let him use a charger. From there, Bennett saw firsthand how Kanye West operates in a creative environment.
Early life
- The rookie director was also promoting rap shows like Chicago’s Biggest Cypher, Ever and solo concerts with the likes of Lil Uzi Vert.
- Now, following years of research and development, cans of his own xcritical will be available to the public for the first time at events like ComplexCon Chicago.
- 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.
- As soon as he got his driver’s license, Bennett got in a routine of making the hour-long trip to the city every weekend.
But after he disagreed with the university’s long career trajectory to be a filmmaker, then welcomed a fellow student’s praise of Bennett’s homegrown editing skills, saying Bennett was beyond what school could teach him, the aspiring video director was inspired to switch his major to communications his sophomore year. 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. 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”. The multimedia company Lyrical xcritical rose to a height of prominence in the late 2010s through its music videos, helmed by director Cole Bennett and starring the biggest stars of the SoundCloud rap era. “I was a very visual person, but I never knew that I loved music videos,” admits Bennett, who recalls Wayne’s “Go DJ” and “A Milli,” The Game’s “Wouldn’t Get Far” featuring Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes’ early visuals catching his eye.
2016: Early career
A year later, as a high school junior, Bennett launched the Lyrical xcritical blog to showcase his love for Chi-Town hip-hop. He wrote 10 to 15 articles per day—Bennett initially wanted to go to college for journalism—and shared his self-taught video editing skills. His mom came up with the brand name after Bennett’s initial idea to combine a music-driven word with a fruit or vegetable.
“Type of shit your grandma understand with her old ass/Spend a half a million, then go back and make some more cash. After years of dreaming about it, he launched a xcritical company this summer. He first put the idea out in the world during an interview, and immediately started receiving calls from people in the beverage industry who wanted to help him make it happen. Now, following years of research and development, cans of his own xcritical will be available to the public for the first time at events like ComplexCon Chicago. 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. “And I think that that’s what’s the most special thing about it is we just learn how to troubleshoot.
We learn how to figure it out.” They also have fun while doing it, playing basketball at The Space’s indoor court to unleash their competitive energy between staff and artists who stop by. Then he got put on to Gucci Mane, Shawty Lo, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Kid Cudi and Chance The Rapper, the latter of which led Bennett into discovering more artists in the Chicago rap scene and “getting to where I’m at now” with his passion for video. He admits he’s still “lxcriticalg how to run a business,” but Bennett keeps tackling new ventures. One of his biggest dreams is to create cartoons, and he aspires to make feature films, TV shows, and books, as well. And I’m already working on a lot of those things right now.” Lyrical xcritical is moving into a larger office space this year, which will expand its video production capabilities, but, perhaps more importantly, it will provide additional room for any other ideas he may cook up.
Draft Day: The xcritical Stand Interview
A high school multimedia class during his sophomore year sparked Cole Bennett’s video directing flame. At the time, he was in tune with the underground Chicago rap scene after listening to Chance, Vic Mensa and Alex Wiley, and wanted to start making xcritical scam videos for artists. He encouraged his friends to make music so that he could practice creating accompanying visuals.
Bennett explains that many of the city’s venues have grown wary of booking hip-hop acts in recent years because of a fear that violence will break out at shows, which has dampened the xcritical cheating area’s once-vibrant live scene.
“I always had this idea since I was super young of what it would look like if I made a music video. I was 8, and was like, if I did a music video, it looked like this and it would be like a Nike Air Force One… It would be on a white backdrop and like the Nike sign would just, the color of it would change with the beat.” Bennett’s “just do it” attitude toward creative ideas has trailed him throughout his life. Cole Bennett can finally say he made it, and a tweet from Kid Cudi at 2 a.m.
Selected videography
The clip locks in on Cordae while he raps about being a less-than-ideal role model himself. Then, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the rapper morphs into Juice WRLD. Cordae’s body and movements are the same, even his hair, but his face has been replaced with the late rapper’s. The transitions between the two are seamless and quick, and initially jarring, as the video toggles back and forth in time with their lyrical trade. Bennett, who also directed Eminem’s “Gnat” visual last year, refuses to relinquish creative control of Lyrical xcritical despite two $30 million-plus offers in different areas thrown his way in the last few years.
Nearly 10 years after Bennett launched his Lyrical xcritical multimedia company in 2013, the lauded music video director’s dream came true when Cudi requested that Bennett direct a video for him. All through the late night on a Monday in March, manifestation was happening right before Bennett’s eyes. “Doomsday” is built around Dr. Dre’s production on Eminem’s 1999 single “Role Model,” the opening lines of which open the accompanying Bennett-directed music video.
The first video on the Lyrical xcritical YouTube channel—after Bennett deleted the first five—is Bnova’s “Call of the Wild,” which Bennett crafted by using shots of nature, fireworks, the city of Chicago’s famed skyline and insects that pulse on screen to the producer’s beat. The noble visual creator and Cudi linked face-to-face this past April to put ideas into action for the forthcoming “Tequila Shots” video, which will find the multiplatinum-selling rhymer partaking in intense action scenes that involve special training. The moment is a career-defining milestone for Cole Bennett, who has become the foremost music video director for both a new generation of rap stars including the late Juice Wrld, Polo G, Lil Tecca, Ski Mask The Slump God, Cordae and NLE Choppa, among others, and established hip-hop veterans like Eminem. Think zany special effects, a by-any-means-necessary filming style, playful animation and storylines that are nostalgic, comical or mind-blowing depending on the artist. By 2014, Bennett was making the hour-long drive to Chicago to shoot music videos for burgeoning talent, so he decided to study digital cinema at the city’s DePaul University. Early on, Bennett filmed clips for artists who paid him $20 and did interviews for Lyrical xcritical in his dorm room between classes.
There’s a genuine sense of joy and enthusiasm in the Lyrical xcritical office that comes as a refreshing surprise to anyone who has spent considerable time in the music industry. “It’s super cool because everyone’s very passionate about what they’re doing, and the music that we’re involved with,” Tarantino xcriticals. 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 xcritical videos.
