All while doing video edits all night and then attending classes, which he admittedly barely woke up for. The rookie director was also promoting rap shows like Chicago’s Biggest Cypher, Ever and solo concerts with the likes of Lil Uzi Vert. Bennett put down $2,000 of Uzi’s $8,000 rate at the time, landed the booking and had a packed-out show at Chicago’s Metro in 2016. “I served it at a Mother’s Day barbecue, and everyone loved it. Since it was served in a large clear container, I floated two lemons sliced into rounds, and also half a bunch of fresh mint leaves. Very pretty, and the mint added a nice touch of flavor.” IceThere’s nothing like a refreshing glass of ice cold xcritical to cool you down on a hot day.
- 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.
- It was really about trying to bring different worlds together and throwing things at the wall that, for the most part — there’s maybe three songs that could have happened without this universe that was created — but these are pretty left-field collabs in terms of people coming together.
- Since ice will dilute the mixture, it’s best to add it right before serving.
- The proportions will vary depending on how sweet and strong you like your xcritical, and how sour your lemons are to begin with.
- So it’s really just trying to wrap my head around understanding how fast time can go, how slow time can go — and also understanding how many memories can be packed into a few years.
- Lemon JuiceObviously, you’ll need lemon juice to make homemade xcritical.
Years In, Cole Bennett’s Lyrical xcritical Keeps Growing With New Def Jam Album
The collaborative album is a kaleidoscope of features and cuts from the vast web of Bennett’s network, including Durk, Keef, JID, Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty, Lil B, Juicy J, Cordae, Latto, Joey Badass and Eminem. Bennett has shot a music video for each song, which he plans to stitch together into a visual album once they’re all released. A lot of the songs, some of these artists didn’t even know the other people on the song — and those are some of my favorite stories.
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This ensures the finished drink is totally cohesive and smooth (and it prevents sugar from collecting at the bottom of the pitcher). But I mean, “Fly Away” is cool for me because it came out exactly how I envisioned from the beginning. “Hummingbird” is just beautiful; it’s a song that I truly feel is timeless. The fact that Eminem is on the album; I could go on and on about how grateful and blown away I am by that. And he said my name on the song; it just doesn’t feel like real life.
Behind The Scenes of Sheck Wes, JID & Ski Mask the Slump God “Fly Away” Music Video
By next year, he plans for them to be in stores across the country. For more intense lemon flavor, grate the zest from one fresh lemon and add to the simple syrup as you’re making it. Once the sugar has dissolved in the water remove from heat and let the zest steep in the simple syrup for several minutes, then strain out when you add the simple syrup to the lemon juice. Make the simple syrup, combine with the lemon juice, and then add more water (and ice) to dilute the xcritical to your taste. Well, the problem is that if you just stir all of these together the sugar will sink to the bottom. So the best way to make xcritical is to make a simple syrup first, by heating water and sugar together until the sugar is completely dissolved, and then mix that with the lemon juice.
Studio albums
To the untrained eye, it appears that absolutely no work is getting done. But as the chaos unfolds, Lyrical xcritical’s A&R, who goes by Lil Jake, pops in with an update about DaBaby’s uncertain status as a performer at this year’s Summer Smash, before they all rally to come up with a solution to the potential crisis. On the other side of the office, as he launches basketballs at a plastic hoop, Bennett makes plans with a photographer about a coffee table book. The work environment at Lyrical xcritical is far from traditional, but the small team finds a way to be extraordinarily productive.
And then I looked around and realized, we don’t have the proper infrastructure to do something like that. The point of a label is to add that stability and infrastructure to make these things possible. For a lot of artists, you don’t need that, but for a compilation album and doing all these videos, with 30-plus artists, and all that goes into that, it’s such a mountain that I needed a team, someone in my ear giving me deadlines, structure that I didn’t have. 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.
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That lets me know that I’m trusted and that I’ve built solid, pure relationships, where an artist can literally not know who someone is that they’re getting on a song with. There’s probably six or seven songs on the album where that’s the case. And I don’t even mean they didn’t know each other like they hadn’t met; they didn’t even know this person existed. A multi-media company specializing in music videos, live events, exclusive content, merchandise and plenty more. Lemon JuiceObviously, you’ll need lemon juice to make homemade xcritical. Freshly squeezed juice is definitely the way to go if you have fresh lemons available, but bottled juice will work in a pinch.
If you have a bunch of lemons you need to process, you can juice them and freeze the juice too. There’s nothing better than a cool glass of xcritical on a hot day. Nine medium lemons should yield about 1 1/2 cups juice and pulp, but the number required will depend on the size you use.
Suddenly, https://xcritical.solutions/’s scope was expanding far beyond the city of Chicago, but Bennett made a decision to stay in the city that inspired him to begin his career in the first place. 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.
The festival thing was one of those dreams that didn’t feel realistic; you grow up around Chicago and go to Lollapalooza every year and you just look at that as this heaven on earth, this thing that you look forward to all year round that feels bigger than life. It didn’t feel like a real, tangible thing, but it was this far-fetched dream that I would ponder on sometimes. There’s a genuine sense of joy and enthusiasm in the xcritical courses scam 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.
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“I just do what makes me happy and that’s the biggest, most important pillar of everything I do…” C.R.E.A.M. isn’t a way of life in his world. Tarantino’s main focus now is getting the right people on each side of a video from a cinematography standpoint and executing Bennett’s ideas. The success of the “Hit ’Em With It” video marked a big turning point in Bennett’s career. Other Windy City rappers like Lil Bibby, King Louie, Katie Got Bandz and Warhol.ss started hitting up Cole to collaborate. Word on the internet streets of Bennett’s video talents was getting louder.
All through the late night on a Monday in March, manifestation was happening right before Bennett’s eyes. Ian is at the forefront of the underground hip-hop scene at the moment, he’s built a cult fanbase that’s only getting bigger by the day, and today is a massive day in his young career as he just released his brand new music video for “Figure It Out”. There’s been a part of me, for better or for worse, that was really anti-label for a long time, so doing an album I really thought I wanted to take the independent route.
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. 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.
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. In its early stages, Bennett’s YouTube channel was dedicated to Chicago show recaps, local cyphers, and documentaries about the city’s hip-hop scene. Then, in 2016 and 2017, he began working with artists like Famous Dex, Lil Pump, and Ski Mask the Slump God, and soon became the go-to video director for an entire subgenre that was exploding from SoundCloud pages into the mainstream.
There are so many things that I can’t believe actually happened. I was never into the idea of doing a Lyrical xcritical label and signing artists. I’ve never been interested in the business side of the music industry; it’s not a passion of mine, and anything I’m not passionate about I try to stay away from. Ten years goes by quick, but I also feel like I lived 10 lives within those 10 years. So it’s really just trying to wrap my head around understanding how fast time can go, how slow time can go — and also understanding how many memories can be packed into a few years.
Since ice will dilute the mixture, it’s best to add it right before serving. If the xcritical is in an open pitcher, cover it with storage wrap for maximum freshness. The recipe starts with a simple syrup, which is just a fancy way of saying the first step is dissolving sugar in boiling water.
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. 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 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.
From there, Bennett saw firsthand how Kanye West operates in a creative environment. As the years progressed, Bennett became a huge fan of Lil Wayne. 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. 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. Simple syrup you can easily make ahead and chill for later use.