Marshall Mott Prompt #5

The Art behind Lyrical Lemonade

Cole Bennett, the creator of “Lyrical Lemonade,” has found success in the music video industry as he discovers new ways to exhibit rap music. His usage of high-quality transitions, cuts, angles, and camera work, as well as his relationships with the artists he works with, makes him stand out from others. In this paper, I will be analyzing and discussing the properties behind his art, specifically his video “Poland” performed by Lil Yachty, as well as “Emperor of the Universe” by Babytron. Both of these videos have different structures and main components which make them unique, however, they have a lot in common.

To begin, “Poland” is shot on a professional camera and is roughly a minute and a half long. In the introduction, Bennett places his logo as well as the song title and artist to allow the audience to know what they are watching. As the video continues, he uses several quick cuts and unusual angles to show Lil Yachty, my favorite being the dutch angle. He also uses photo compilations and special effects in order to add artistic value so that it is not just simply a video. My favorite parts of the video are the smooth transitions between cuts, the matching camera work with sounds in the song, as well as the choreography. Walter Benjamin says something I find to be very powerful in relation to the production and mechanical reproduction of the film. “By close-ups of the things around us, by focusing on hidden details of familiar objects, by exploring commonplace milieus under the ingenious guidance of the camera, the film, on the other hand, extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives; on the other hand, it manages to assure us of an immense and unexpected field of action.” (Benjamin, 1936, p. 60). This is compelling to me as Benjamin made this claim in the 1930s, video creation, augmentation, and distribution were just at their beginning. To end the video, he uses symbolism such as the Polish flag and concludes with video credits. This video is fairly simple, as the scenery and concepts within it remain fairly consistent.

On the other hand, Cole Bennett can produce very complex work as he did in “Emperor of the Universe” by Babytron. This song consists of twenty-one different beats and is shot on an iPhone. Due to the vast amount of beats, Bennett had to be creative in how he wanted to display these sounds as many of them are completely different from one another. He starts this video as he did the “Poland” video, placing his company logo followed by the artist's name and song. Similar to “Poland,” Bennett used unique cuts, angles, transitions, and effects that make the video unique compared to his other work. What makes this video special is the usage of multiple settings, outfits, background characters, and various props that have been used in the original song that Babytron samples. Also, a birds-eye lens is used heavily since it is difficult to expand angles on an iPhone. Bennett used captions and ended the video with fun facts in order to make the audience appreciate the small details hidden behind his work.

A lot of commonalities between these videos lie within his camera and editing work, as well as his directing skills. He is able to manipulate the camera and footage to match the sound, transition his ideas smoothly, as well as using his actors/artists in a fitting fashion. He also correctly formats the video as he displays the artist's credits at the beginning and end of each video as well as his own.

Bennett is able to display norms within gender, race, class, and privilege effectively as the genre of hip-hop is fairly repetitive with these. In “Poland,” Lil Yachty, a black artist, exhibits his creative abilities in the performance of this song. What stands out to me most is his mentioning and setting of Poland, as it is a fairly homogenous population when it comes to race. He displays a lot of stereotypical ideas in hip-hop , specifically drug usage and speaking about a female counterpart. The lyrics in this song are very vague and consistent, however, Lil yachty shows an abstract idea of wealth privilege as he travels to Poland and raps about an expensive drug he refers to as “wock.” Lil Yachty is wearing designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and also has his nails painted. To me, this represents wealth and artistry within the African-American community. My first reaction to this song is that it must be camp, however, as I kept searching for an explanation, Lil Yachty claimed that he was not being serious. Sontag defines Camp through fifty-eight separate statements and requirements, point number nineteen states “The pure examples of camp are unintentional; they are dead serious. The Art, Nouveau craftsman who makes a lamp with a snake coiled around it is not kidding, nor is he trying to be charming” (Sontag, 1964, p.6).

In “Emperor of the Universe,” there are similar themes when it comes to the norms mentioned above. Babytron is also an African-American artist, who is wearing jewelry, designer clothing, and is placed in exotic vehicles and locations to display his wealth. These ideas are consistent in hip-hop as many African American artists in the genre speak about their impoverished upbringing and how they found a successful path through music. Most of these artists came from no sort of privilege at all, to later earn wealth and power through their art.

Overall, Cole Bennetts's work behind the camera is powerful, especially for hip-hop artists. His innovative and unique ideas in editing and directing make him stand out in comparison to his competition. As he is constantly progressing, he continues to keep consistencies in each video that makes each one feels familiar. The two videos mentioned in this essay display his style and how he can format nearly any song into a visual display.

Bibliography

Benjamin, W. (1936). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.

Sontag, S. (1964). Notes on 'camp'. s.n.