Cole Bennett Knows Everythings Is Better Imperfect
What do a 1980’s ShowBiz Pizza Place animatronic and a wool clog with a haircut have in common? There is only one answer and it’s Cole Bennett.
I’m catching Bennett post-a pretty generational five-day run. Last week, he dropped his first-ever Birkenstock shoe collaboration, and this week, his second-ever music video with Future. Both projects have been a long time coming, and both are rooted in intention — and imperfection, a crucial Bennett throughline.
The 30-year-old Lyrical Lemonade founder has repped the (Birken)set since he was a kid. The two’s collaborative history soft-launched in 2018 in the form of a “Birkenstories” video, but, boy, was last week’s drop a hard launch. Part of the Birkenstock Boston’s 50th anniversary, Bennett’s Birkenstock 1774 shoe may have been doused in full off-white wool but it was defined by its instruction manual, which instructs wearers to “cut it” and “customize it.” One of the lead campaign images even captures Bennett taking a pair of shears to the cozy clog’s fluffy upper (seated aside a Yeti-like figure, but that’s beside the point).
Bennett doesn’t believe shoes should be perfect, nor his videos. The beauty of his Lyrical Lemonade visual endeavors lies in their unpredictability, epitomized by the clip for Future’s viral cut, “Build a B*tch” (off his recent THE REAL ME). Therein, Bennett turned the rapper into a welder, to, well, build his dream girl (real sentence), the end result being the aforementioned, straight-outta ShowBiz Pizza Place animatronic. Sourced in the eleventh hour, the robot character was part of the pizza joint’s animatronic band, and its (her?) face is actually two face masks melded together, giving it a spookified uncanniness. It’s just the right amount of off.
And that is the throughline between all of Cole Bennett’s creative endeavors. It’s not perfection, but purpose and personality.
You’ve had a big week. How are you?
It's been an interesting week, with both the Birkenstock collaboration and now a music video with Future.
Congrats on the Birkenstock collaboration! That’s been a long time coming.
I've always been very vocal about wanting to do something with Birkenstock, so for this collaboration to happen is very special for me. If you’ve followed my journey, you know I've been wearing Birkenstocks for 10-plus years.
My favorite part might be your grandpa’s cameo in the campaign.
To involve my family was so important. It’s something I'll have forever. My grandpa’s excitement about being able to model, and then seeing the photos of himself in the stores, it doesn't get better than that.
Who else do you look up to?
I look up to the Virgils and the Pharrells of the world. People who refuse to put themselves in a box and can break into many different mediums.
Is there a throughline between all of your creative endeavors?
I like to challenge myself; I have so many ideas, and so many people I want to work with across so many different mediums. Life is so short. It’s all about: How can I meet as many people and do as many things and see as much as possible? Working with Birkenstock, a German company, around the clock to make a shoe, followed by working with someone like Future on a music video, is just that. I'm having a lot of fun, and I want to keep it going.
Speaking of the new video, you turned Future into a welder. That wasn’t on my bingo card. Where did this idea begin?
I actually ran into Future and his right-hand man, Zona Man, at the World Cup. We were in the same suite. That's how this whole thing kicked off. I had no idea what song we were going to do, or if it was even going to happen. You know how it goes when you run into people, but a couple days later, Zona Man called me and was like “Let’s do it.”
Still not over Future being a welder. Was that the initial concept, or did it take some workshopping?
Making Future a welder was pretty much the launch point. I wanted to go in a direction that no one would expect, and ever since I did the “P.O.V.” video with Clipse and Tyler, the Creator last year, I’ve been diving deeper into the animatronics world, so it was a no-brainer.
What is it about animatronics?
There's just so much history in animatronics. I'm working on a documentary about animatronic culture from the 1980s. The robot in the video used to be in a ShowBiz Pizza Place in the early '80s. It was part of the animatronic band.
What was it that you showed him? I can’t imagine it was just visuals of a creepy (and I mean that with love) animatronic?
There was no stock footage of welders welding things in slow motion, so I took existing videos of old endoskeleton animatronics from the 1980s, made them black and white, and put the song over. I sent it to Future and he was like, “This is perfect."
How did you acquire said animatronic?
It was a sprint, as always. We sourced it and shipped it from Missouri, and had to assemble the mechanisms of it ourselves. You’ll notice that the mask is a little bit imperfect and strange. It’s two masks molded together, so it has many imperfections, but to me, it's perfect. The guy who built it was like, “If you would have given me two weeks, it would’ve been perfect,” but this is the best-case scenario. It has this creepy, strange feeling to it and I love it. It might not look as good as if we had more time, but that's the name of the game. You can't be too hyper-fixated on perfection because it's never going to be perfect.
You’ve always championed the underground, giving emerging rappers a platform to flesh out their visual worlds. What is your assessment of the current underground scene?
I'm so inspired by the entire underground and everything that's happening right now. We’re entering a new era where artists can worldbuild and have a community that stands behind them. Not everything needs to be a Billboard hit. We went through an era when rap was statistically the number-one genre, when everyone thought that if you didn't sell 100,000 units the first week, you weren't big. I see that mentality getting tossed around a lot now, but I think that rap is in a phenomenal place. Look at the shows. Look at these artists selling hard tickets. Look how many people are coming out to see them. There are big pop stars who couldn't do that. It's a wonderful time for rap music. I know a lot of people would try to disagree with that, but we're about to enter something really special.
Your Summer Smash lineup was proof of concept. Are there any specific artists you’re really feeling right now?
How Tezzus carries himself reminds me of Famous Dex in 2016. What he's able to bring to the table is so exciting, he's an absolute rockstar. He's soaking in this moment, and he knows what's in front of him. These are real performers. I told Tezzus the other day, "You need to think about your live show. You are a one-of-a-kind act, and you need to approach a show the same way you approach an album.”
What’s next for you?
I want to make movies. I want to continue making music videos where I feel passionate about the concept and the artist. This is one of those situations. Doing this for 13 years is a blessing and that in and of itself keeps me going. I want to keep creating a universe that my work can exist in. Next year might look completely different, and I'm in love with the fact that all things are ever-changing. I have so many ideas I want to bring to life, and every little thing that I get to be a part of might open a new door. Just like the World Cup that day. You just never know what could happen. I might get off this Zoom, walk downstairs, and it might change my life forever.
Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit our SHOPPER page and subscribe to the newsletter for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.
