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Whether you know it or not. there is someone shaping the visuals for the “Soundcloud Era”. His name is Cole Bennett and his brand is flourishing.

Complex conducted a very lengthy but interesting Q&A with the Illinois native who has seemingly become the man to go to if you are an emerging Hip-Hop artist. In the last 24 months, Bennett has shot videos that are synonymous with the launching careers of Ski Mask the Slump God, Lil Xan, Smokepurpp, and Juice WRLD.

In the feature he addresses a litany of subjects including his come up, founding his now uber-popular company Lyrical Lemonade production company, his social media following, directing style and more. Here some of the standout details.

On how and why “Soundcloud” artists started to a breakthrough in the mainstream:

There was this long period where all of these quote, unquote “SoundCloud rappers” were putting up bigger numbers than mainstream acts who are all over the radio. The sound of it was aggressive at some times, and it had content that a lot of the gatekeepers and media outlets didn’t want to accept yet. But then it got to a point where you couldn’t help it anymore. You can’t help the direction music goes in.

How there are some pretty obvious reasons why these newer artists don’t adapt so well to the media coverage that comes with stardom:

You don’t know how to handle the media. You don’t know how to handle everything. You can say one thing on the internet, and your career takes a turn left or right. The biggest growing pain for the whole new scene is that these artists are blowing up so quickly, and sometimes it’s difficult to handle because they’re not media trained. No one knows how to just be a superstar suddenly, you know?

He also explains why Juice WRLD could be the biggest act to come out of the sub-genre:

Juice WRLD is one of the most talented people I know. The way he works is crazy. That whole Future project, he freestyled. Almost every song that comes out, he freestyles. Even songs that he puts together with a hook and a bridge and a full layout of what a song should be, he freestyles. What he’s going to do moving forward is unreal. I mean, some of the features that he has ready to go, they go way beyond hip-hop. Juice WRLD is in place to be a superstar, a legend, to be remembered forever.

You can see his video for Future and Juice WRLD’s “No Issue” below.

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Photo: Getty