The Rise Of Lyrical Lemonade (Article)

What up one & all. Sky Bento here, once again on the check in. Hope you & yours are doing well. You know, drinking your water, protecting your energy and knowing the vibes well. This the part where I say some corny s*** about a hot Summer’s day & lemonade to transtion into what this article is obviously about. But look, the fact is that Lyrical Lemonade is one of the most culturally important platforms we’ve seen since the blog era. In fact, in a lot of ways it is the continuation of that very era. But we’ll get into that in a second. Let’s get the disclaimer out the way.

As always, my opinions do not reflect the views of TDN, as a staff, label, or a m************ crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento after you finish reading this of course.

So the other day (as you’ve probably seen if you actually check this blog, which you should, f*****), Cole Bennett dropped a new video with UK drill heartthrob Central Cee. I’d never heard of the boy before, but damn has this song got me hooked. Fresh off the bat he hits you with one of the most quotable lines of the year - “How can I be homophobic? My b**** is gay.” - and the song just never loses your attention from there. We all know that attention is the universal currency, and Cole Bennett and his Lyrical Lemonade crew has got it in spades. Any video that drops on the platform is pretty much guaranteed to break an artist (if they haven’t already broken) into the mainstream. The list of artists that have had their career skyrocket is too great to mention. But just for starters: Lil Pump, Lil Tecca, NLE Choppa, Jack Harlow, Lil Mosey, Ski Mask The Slump God, Smokepurrp, Trippie Redd, Lil Skies, Yung Bans, Yung Pinch, YBN Nahmir, Blueface, JID, Cordae, The Kid Laroi, Polo G, Latto, $NOT, 24kGoldN, Nardo Wick, Yeat & many, many more. But one late Lyrical Lemonade “alumni” stands tall above the rest.

“Cole bennett began to speak to a new demographic largely untapped by mainstream music: the angsty youth”

Chicago’s Juice WRLD released his first Lyrical Lemonade video “All Girls Are The Same” debuted on February 25th, 2018 beginning a very fruitful relationship between Juice & Cole. The majority of Juice WRLD’s following music videos would be Lyrical Lemonade exclusives directed by Cole Bennett himself. “Armed & Dangerous”, “Robbery”, “Bandit” featuring NBA YoungBoy, “Bad Boy” featuring Young Thug, “No Issue” with Future, “Tell Me U Luv Me” featuring Trippie Redd, even posthumous collaborations like “Godzilla” by Eminem & “Nuketown” by Ski Mask The Slump God all premiered on Lyrical Lemonade. The crown jewel of course being Juice’s signature song “Lucid Dreams” which reached #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100. As Juice WRLD became one of the biggest artists in music (especially among up and comers) so did Cole Bennett become one of the biggest directors in music. Lyrical Lemonade effectively became MTV3. Not only that, but due largely to the state of music when a lot of the upcoming artists received Lyrical Lemonade videos, Cole Bennett began to speak to new demographic largely untapped by mainstream music: the angsty youth.

Cole Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade videos captured a new generation’s attention. It became the platform that emo rap used to fully take off. The Soundcloud artists of the new generation were all flocking to Cole Bennett for colorful videos with some of the most memorable set pieces in recent memory. Who could forget the animated buildings and buses of “All Girls Are The Same”? The drowned out colors of the high school in “Nowadays”? The Chucky doll in Times Square in “Catch Me Outside”? These memorable set-pieces captured the eyes of the new generation as emo rap took off and millions of teenagers discovered what emotions are. The Internet Money guitar-type beat sound became synonymous with Cole Bennett and the brand (to the point that when the producer collective made their own songs, you know who had to do the video). It became the new platform to put people onto underground artists and also to give the youth that already knew these artists more access to them. This placed a new level of importance on music videos, as a lot of times this was the only way to hear these artists’ music outside of Soundcloud or see these artists outside of Instagram. This created a deeper connection to these artists who already meant to much to their fans due to the simple fact that they were getting to know these artists before the world did.

The OG’s began to take notice because these videos were not conforming to industry standards, but rather dictating them. Artists like the aforementioned Eminem began to reach back for a few videos. Cardi B, Kanye West & J. Cole have all appeared in Lyrical Lemonade videos. Lil Durk doubled back for multiple Lyrical Lemonade videos after his career resurgence. As did Lil Yachty. Even recently, Lyrical Lemonade was responsible for putting me on to BabyTron before he made the ‘22 XXL Freshman Cover. There is an official Lyrical Lemonade x Yeat x Minions promo. Cole Bennett has loudly built an empire with Lyrical Lemonade over the last few years, including merch, Easter Eggs in the videos, and even a Lyrical Lemonade festival. Who could forget Lil Uzi Vert’s legendary show in Chicago?

I think we need to be honest about what happened to the blog era. It didn’t end, it evolved. Just as the blog era evolved from radio & MTV itself, YouTube took the place of blogs with Lyrical Lemonade at the forefront. TikTok & Instagram are taking it even further than YouTube right now, but it’s hard to say these quick fixes of music would be taking over if it weren’t for Lyrical Lemonade making full videos out of back to back eyecatches. What Cole Bennett has done with Lyrical Lemonade is very similar to what a record label in the 90’s would have done. It harvested artists of a particular demographic, built a platform with them, and let that sound and style dominate popular culture for a couple of years. You could hardly say Lyrical Lemonade’s run is over, but at this point we mostly know what to expect from the brand musically. That’s where the fun of the videos comes in. No matter what, the videos don’t miss. There is always something interesting going on visually. The channel perfectly captures the art of the music video.

Lord only knows what Cole Bennett and Lyrical Lemonade will bring to your screen next.