Everything starts with an idea. An idea is the spark that can ignite one of the biggest inventions of our time. Less than a year before the world stopped in 2020, Cole Bennett delivered a memorable talk about mindset as he detailed the rise of his company, Lyrical Lemonade. The TEDx event highlighted Bennett’s storied experiences as an up-and-coming music director with incredible foresight during the era of SoundCloud rap, where artists such as Lil Uzi Vert and Smokepurpp were breakout talents.
Nowadays, the young CEO’s resume is crowded with major milestones as he adds over 300 credits collaborating with the heavy-hitters of the music industry. Bennett has worked with the likes of Grammy-winner Cardi B, and the late iconic rappers Juice WRLD and Mac Miller. But his beginnings were humble as a 17-year-old Plano, IL kid who was fascinated by the budding Chicago hip hop scene.
Sitting in the kitchen with his mother, Bennett shared his vision of an all-encompassing hip hop media production hub that would produce content in the form of articles, music videos, interviews, and more. The name, Lyrical Lemonade, came at the recommendation of his supportive mother.
With that seed of a big vision planted, Bennett immediately went to work, creating marketable vices such as stickers and hiring his mother’s website developer to create LyricalLemonade.com. Soon, he would be planning live music events, championing an outlet for Gen Zers hungry for more burgeoning hip hop. This would eventually morph into the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash, an annual live music event drawing more than 20,000 attendees.
Bennett’s entrepreneurial successes made an impression on the major league of music entertainment, but he admits in the TEDx Talk that things didn’t always execute so smoothly — even during the talk he had to work through a cold. At one point, Bennett had to decide whether he was going to solely concentrate on school or dedicate his full attention to Lyrical Lemonade. He ended up dropping out of college, a trait that has become commonplace among the most talked about entrepreneurs of recent times, including Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs.
Now with Lyrical Lemonade at the center of his focus, Bennett started receiving calls from major artists with his first shot coming from Migos member Quavo who wanted Bennett to shoot a music video for the Atlanta-based rap group. To make a long story short, after 12-hour days of working on the music video edit the project was shelved.
This wouldn’t be Bennett’s last setback. One time he was hired to do a video with Wiz Khalifa and Gucci Mane only to find out he had one day to do it and Gucci couldn’t attend, leaving Bennett with a high-pressured conundrum. Throughout all the mishaps, Bennett says it was his mindset that forged his success.
“You have to be a problem solver and you have to understand that sometimes there’s no way to solve the problem, and that’s part of problem-solving,” Bennett said in the TEDx Talk.
His glass-half-full mentality gave him the extra motivation needed to accomplish his goals. Listen to his inspiring story below:
Today, Bennett manages a successful YouTube channel with over 20 million subscribers and 10 billion views since its inception in 2013. He’s also still shining light on underground, independent artists, as well as low-key major artists who appeal as independent.
