Cole Bennett, acclaimed video director and founder of Lyrical Lemonade, has spent the past two years working on the most ambitious project he’s ever taken on. His first full-length compilation album, “All Is Yellow,” was released Jan. 26. And the year is shaping up to be a big one for him — he’s also in the early stages of planning for the 2024 Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash festival at SeatGeek Stadium on the third weekend of June.
“Going into this, I don’t think I realized how ambitious this was. When I first started the album two years ago, I started to formulate some of the records, it was one of those things where ‘yo I could finish this next month if I wanted to.’ A lot songs do come together really quickly and there’s other pieces that take a lot longer and you go back and rework things,” said Bennett as he was traveling across the country to shoot visuals for the “All Is Yellow” accompanying visual album.
“No music video director has put together a compilation album from scratch. That hasn’t been done and no music video director has put together an album where they do a video for every song,” he said.
For Bennett, who’s directed over 400 music videos under his Lyrical Lemonade umbrella, working with 34 artists like Chief Keef, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Ski Mask the Slump God, Kid Cudi and Cordae to create such an ambitious compilation album was some of the most fun he’s ever had.
Jake Milan, longtime friend of Bennett who is serving as “All Is Yellow’s” executive producer, says “All Is Yellow” was an opportunity to work with artists he hadn’t worked with before.
“He’s done an incredible job of building those relationships over the years and I think it was a really great time for him to work with some of those artists he hasn’t had a chance to work with in the past. If we can curate a song that makes sense for our album, let’s work with them and let’s make beautiful art,” Milan said.
But because of the scale and scope of Bennett’s vision for “All Is Yellow,” it was also the hardest feat he’s ever pulled off as he underestimated the sheer number of people he was working with and the logistical nightmare of bringing together so many artists that had never met.
“It was so much fun for so many different reasons that I’m going to look back at it as one of the best times of my life, but I will say the most challenging, ambitious, the most mentally draining moments of my life,” Bennett said.
“I learned that when you can be the glue and the connector, a lot of people can put their egos aside. I think we’d see a lot more unity in rap music if people were more into the idea of collaboration. Unity and collaboration is definitely possible when people put their egos aside for a second,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bennett and his Lyrical Lemonade cohorts are still planning their 6th annual Summer Smash music festival with SPKRBX, slated once again for SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview in June. Though final plans and headliners are still being determined, he confirms that album will be a big part of the festival theme, from its yellow curtain seen across the trailers and videos, including converting festival staple Lenny’s Tent into a custom yellow circus tent as seen on the back of the album, to having as many of the artists who are on the album as possible on the bill. He says that at least a couple of the album performers will be performing, including fan favorite Lil Yachty.
“The festival is the closest you’ll get to seeing this album live. It won’t be all the way through and it won’t be every single artist but I’m going to do my best to bring it to life,” Bennett said.
What excites him the most beyond selecting the performers is building out the colorful world of Lyrical Lemonade and its memorable music videos for the hundreds of thousands of people who attend every year and creating a unique experience that can only be provided at Summer Smash.
“People love stepping into these worlds that they watch from afar that their imagination only knows. So to create that in real life is the next step. I’m just excited to keep pushing the limits on what it could become and I think this last year was one of the best years yet. We’re expanding the footprint of activities and activations,” he said.
“In the coming years that’s what I look forward to the most. I have dreams of building an amusement park one day and we’ve been framing pieces from Lyrical Lemonade music videos for the past six years so we want to build a museum eventually with these cool music video props framed. I want to keep stepping into what it can be beyond the music,” he added.
Bennett views the people who attend Summer Smash as people who are trying to escape from reality for a weekend and listen to hip hop. He was one of those people.
“I would go to Lollapalooza growing up and North Coast and these festivals and it was my escape to live in a different world for a weekend. We never know what people are going through at home and what people’s lives look like so all these people coming together,” he said.
However he’s not a fan of attendees who come to throw objects at the artists, which occurred during the 2023 edition when fans were throwing things at rapper Sexxy Redd who promptly cut her set short on opening day.
“That irks me because — I like people to be sensible and I like people to be appreciative, and respect each other and respect these artists. People don’t know what it took for an artist to get through that day whether it be their daily schedule of things that they have to go through to get through that day or maybe what they went through at home or the mental state they’re in. No one knows so we need to respect everyone,” Bennett said adding that respect is a must and an absolute necessity.
“All Is Yellow” is a culmination of everything that the homegrown brand has become over the past 11 years. But when asked whether a sequel will come in the near future, Bennett said no, but teased the possibility of an “All is Yellow 2″ EP a few years down the road, but only when he feels he’s ready again.
“I’m in no rush to continue putting out music and organizing these things. It’s something I wanted to try but it’s not necessarily something I’m continuing to do moving forward. I do see it happening again, but probably not a full-length album like this one. I don’t know if I want to do the same thing twice,” Bennett said.
Fans can also look forward to the forthcoming “All Is Yellow” visual album where each song has its own music video that’s presented like a short film. For Bennett and company, the album and this year’s festival is a culmination of their 11-year history.
“We’re looking at this album as a great piece of work that we can show people what we’ve done over all these years and really highlight Lyrical Lemonade in an album form. Over the last year, we’ve been putting it together and doing what we can to showcase that in the best light,” said Milan.
Mark Braboy is a freelance writer
