Cole Bennett Recalls Rejecting Kanye West's Ideas For "Mixed Personalities" Video

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Cole Bennett of Lyrical Lemonade performs onstage during day 2 of the Rolling Loud Festival at Banc of California Stadium on December 15, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Cole Bennett said he had a "texting war" with Ye ahead of the release of YNW Melly's "Mixed Personalities."

Cole Bennett emerged as the go-to director of the Soundcloud era to directing videos for the biggest stars in the name. Eminem and Kanye West are among those that he's worked with over the years but it seems like the latter posed a few difficulties along the way. The two worked together for Melly's "Mixed Personalities" shoot. In an interview with Full Send Podcast, Bennett explained that Ye hit him up at the last minute to change the color palette of the visual.

Rapper Kanye West attends a game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter at Crypto.com Arena on March 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

"Kanye hits me the night it's supposed to drop -- the night before -- and he's like, 'let's make the video black and white,'" Bennett explained. Aaron Steinberg asked if they got into a "texting war" to which Bennett replied, "Yeah. I wish I still had the texts. However, he still provided a diplomatic response to the Yeezy creator.

"I said we have to think about Melly here. It's his song at the end of the day. It's his vision. He's also not here to have an input on it. So I really think we should follow the initial vision that we all had," Bennett recalled. "He's like, 'that doesn't match my color palette,' but he was on set the whole time and this is what he told me the night before it dropped. But, it's something you expect when you work with someone like Kanye and I really appreciated it because, like I said, that self-integrity element of knowing what he likes and what's true to, you know, his artistry."

Check the clip below. 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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