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Transcript

WELCOME TO THE LEAGUE: INTRODUCING LIL BENNINGTON · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Clone Wars: The Spinoff.
• 0:03
  It's DJ Universe, and today we're doing something different.
• 0:07
  This isn't just another episode.
• 0:10
  This is an introduction.
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  This is an induction.
• 0:14
  And this is the beginning of a new chapter for the Clone Wars family.
• 0:18
  I got Dangerous Zygos with me.
• 0:21
  You already know.
• 0:22
  Calvin Blingwell is in the building.
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  Present and accounted for.
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  And sitting in that fourth chair for the first time, we have the newest member of
• 0:30
  the team.
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  Independent recording artist.
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  Producer.
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  Newest addition to the Down By Law Management family.
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  Newest member of the Hip-Hop Hero League.
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  And beginning today, the new fourth host of Clone Wars: The Spinoff.
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  Lil Bennington.
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  Welcome to the Clone Wars.
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  Man, I appreciate that.
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  I'm ready.
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  For me, this is bigger than just getting another platform to talk on.
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  I'm coming here as an artist, but I'm also coming here to learn,
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  build, and bring my perspective into what y'all have already created.
• 1:02
  See, that's what I want to hear.
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  Because we're not giving you the fourth chair just so you can sit there looking
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  mysterious.
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  There will be homework.
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  I already figured that.
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  Definitely homework.
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  Because Clone Wars has always been about more than entertainment.
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  We're talking about culture.
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  We're talking about ownership.
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  We're talking about financial literacy.
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  We're talking about knowledge of self.
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  We're talking about taking something that starts as creativity and figuring out how
• 1:28
  you build a real life around it.
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  And ultimately, how you turn art into something bigger than a moment.
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  How do you turn it into legacy?
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  That's the difference between somebody who makes songs and somebody who builds a
• 1:39
  career.
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  And there's another difference people don't talk about enough.
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  Making money isn't necessarily building wealth.
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  You can make money and spend all of it.
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  You can have a successful year and still own nothing.
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  Generational wealth requires assets, systems, and ownership.
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  Exactly.
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  And that's why Lil Bennington joining us creates an interesting conversation.
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  Because we're dealing with an artist who's already been creating at a serious pace.
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  So now the question becomes: What happens when you put infrastructure behind the
• 2:12
  creativity?
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  Bennington, let's properly introduce you.
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  Not the social media bio.
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  Not the streaming profile.
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  Who is Lil Bennington?
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  I'm an independent recording artist and producer.
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  My music pulls from alternative rock, rap-rock, nu-metal, and hip-hop,
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  but I don't really want to be trapped inside one genre.
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  The music can get aggressive.
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  It can get melodic.
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  Sometimes it's introspective.
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  A lot of it comes from whatever I'm actually feeling when I'm creating.
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  And I've always been big on being able to create independently.
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  That's what interests me about your story.
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  Because you're not waiting for somebody to give you permission to create.
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  Exactly.
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  A lot of my workflow is mobile.
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  I'm writing.
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  Recording.
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  Producing.
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  Mixing.
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  Putting projects together.
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  If I have the tools available, I'm trying to make something.
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  But here's where I'm going to challenge you.
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  Creative independence is powerful.
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  Creative independence without organization can become chaos.
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  Absolutely.
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  Because if you're producing that much material, eventually you're not managing ten
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  songs.
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  You're managing intellectual property.
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  That's the game right there.
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  And let's give the audience some context.
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  Lil Bennington has already been building a catalog that includes projects like New
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  Faith, My Pleasure, Moments Divided, and the self-titled Bennington.
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  And there's collaborative work like HellFire Disciples with sadboy 9 8 8.
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  That's output.
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  But here's what we're going to start teaching on this show: Output is not
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  automatically an asset.
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  Organization turns output into something you can manage.
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  Ownership turns it into something you can control.
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  Strategy turns it into something you can grow.
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  And longevity tells you whether you actually built something.
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  Because anybody can have one record everybody talks about for three weeks.
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  What does the catalog look like ten years later?
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  That's where my thinking has been changing.
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  When you're creating constantly, your first thought is the song.
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  Does the record sound right?
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  Does it express what I'm trying to say?
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  But then you start realizing every song has another side to it.
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  There's the master.
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  There's publishing.
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  There's credits.
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  There's distribution.
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  There's metadata.
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  There's money attached to different rights.
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  Now we're talking.
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  That's why you're here.
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  Not because we're trying to turn creativity into corporate paperwork.
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  We're trying to make sure the creativity doesn't disappear because nobody handled
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  the paperwork.
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  That's a jewel right there.
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  You can make the wildest record imaginable.
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  Break every musical rule.
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  Turn the guitar up until the engineer starts complaining.
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  But when the song is finished?
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  Handle your business.
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  Let's turn this into something every independent artist listening can use.
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  You've got twenty songs.
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  Fifty songs.
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  A hundred songs.
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  Maybe you've been releasing music for five years.
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  What's the first move?
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  Inventory.
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  Know what you have.
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  And don't say, "I got like eighty-something songs."
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  No.
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  How many?
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  What are they called?
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  When did they come out?
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  Who worked on them?
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  Exactly.
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  Build a catalog database.
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  Title.
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  Version.
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  Release date.
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  Writers.
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  Producers.
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  Featured artists.
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  Splits.
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  Master ownership.
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  Publishing ownership.
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  Distributor.
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  ISRC.
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  Artwork.
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  Contracts.
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  Registration information.
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  Revenue.
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  Get organized.
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  Especially if you're somebody like me who creates fast.
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  Because high output creates another responsibility.
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  You've got to make sure the business can keep up with the art.
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  That's it.
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  Don't slow down the creativity.
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  Build infrastructure capable of keeping up with it.
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  And handle splits early.
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  Don't wait until the record gets successful.
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  Everybody is your brother when the song has three hundred streams.
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  Then the check arrives.
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  Suddenly everybody remembers the studio session differently.
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  Facts.
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  Handle the business while everybody is still cool.
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  That's part of financial literacy in hip-hop.
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  And financial literacy doesn't start with stocks.
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  It starts with understanding your own business.
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  Do you understand how your music makes money?
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  Do you know who owns your masters?
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  Do you understand your publishing?
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  Do you know where your royalties are supposed to come from?
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  Do you know your percentages?
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  Because revenue isn't wealth.
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  Let's keep making that distinction.
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  Revenue comes in.
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  Wealth is what you're building and retaining.
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  If your catalog generates money but you don't control the underlying rights,
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  that's a completely different economic position than owning an appreciating catalog.
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  And that's where legacy comes into the conversation.
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  Because if you're talking about generational wealth, the question becomes: What
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  survives you?
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  That's something I want to build toward.
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  I don't want the music to just be a bunch of links floating around online.
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  I want the catalog to have structure.
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  That's Hip-Hop Hero League mentality.
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  And let's connect this to knowledge of self.
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  Before somebody can successfully market you, you need to understand you.
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  What do you represent?
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  What makes your sound yours?
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  What does your audience come to you for?
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  What values are attached to your name?
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  Because if you don't define yourself, the market will gladly define you.
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  And usually it'll define you according to what's easiest to sell today,
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  not what's best for you ten years from now.
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  Exactly.
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  Knowledge.
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  Understanding.
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  Application.
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  That's where concepts like Supreme Mathematics have had such a deep historical
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  relationship with hip-hop culture.
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  We're approaching those teachings respectfully.
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  Not as marketing gimmicks.
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  Not as slogans.
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  We're talking about the tradition of artists using knowledge of self as part of
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  understanding their place in the world.
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  And musically, knowledge of self gives you freedom.
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  Because if I know who I am creatively, I don't have to panic every time the trend
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  changes.
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  There it is.
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  Trends rent attention.
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  Identity builds equity.
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  All right.
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  Time for the official business.
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  Do we have a cape?
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  Absolutely not.
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  Thank God.
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  Lil Bennington, on behalf of Down By Law Management and everybody building this
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  movement, we're officially welcoming you into the Hip-Hop Hero League.
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  But I want people listening to understand what that means.
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  The Hip-Hop Hero League isn't about pretending we're superheroes.
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  It's about recognizing that hip-hop gave generations of people tools.
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  Voice.
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  Identity.
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  Entrepreneurship.
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  Technology.
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  Fashion.
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  Language.
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  Community.
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  And knowledge.
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  Now we have a responsibility to build something with those tools.
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  And economically, that means graduating from consumer to owner.
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  Artist to entrepreneur.
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  Income to assets.
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  Individual success to generational strategy.
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  And you don't have to become somebody else to do that.
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  That's important.
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  You don't have to stop being an artist.
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  You don't have to start walking around talking like a banker.
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  Please don't.
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  You just have to understand your business.
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  Bennington, your music pulls from different worlds.
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  Alternative rock.
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  Rap-rock.
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  Nu-metal.
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  Hip-hop.
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  Heavy music.
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  Some people are going to ask, "Where does that fit?"
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  My answer is that hip-hop has always been about transformation.
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  DJs took records that already existed and discovered completely different
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  possibilities inside them.
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  Sampling transformed sound.
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  Turntables became instruments.
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  Drum machines became weapons.
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  Technology people overlooked became the foundation of movements.
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  So experimentation doesn't scare me.
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  That's exactly how I look at it.
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  I respect where different sounds come from.
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  But I don't want genre to become a cage.
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  I want to take those influences and build something that feels like me.
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  Then here's the question I want you to answer on your first episode.
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  Ten years from now, what should the name Lil Bennington mean?
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  Evolution.
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  Consistency.
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  Independence.
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  Somebody who wasn't afraid to experiment.
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  But also somebody who built something real behind the music.
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  I want somebody to be able to go through the catalog years from now and hear
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  different periods.
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  Different emotions.
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  Different sounds.
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  But I also want the business behind that catalog to be strong enough that the work
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  continues creating opportunities.
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  That's legacy.
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  Then welcome to the League.
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  Welcome to the team.
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  And welcome to Clone Wars.
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  Let's build.
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  Before we close this special episode, everybody listening gets an assignment.
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  Because that's what we're doing here.
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  Entertainment with information.
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  Culture with application.
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  So let's go around the table.
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  Zygos, give them one.
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  Know your catalog.
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  Every record.
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  Every collaboration.
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  Every producer.
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  Every feature.
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  Every split.
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  Stop treating your career like a junk drawer.
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  Calvin.
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  Know your numbers.
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  What came in?
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  Where did it come from?
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  What did the release cost?
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  What do you own?
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  What are your recurring expenses?
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  What percentage are you actually keeping?
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  You cannot build generational wealth if you refuse to measure what's happening
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  financially.
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  Bennington.
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  First episode.
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  Give the people something.
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  Don't let independence turn into isolation.
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  Learn how to do things yourself because that gives you power.
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  But also learn when you need a team.
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  Management.
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  Production.
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  Marketing.
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  Business.
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  Whatever helps you grow.
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  The goal shouldn't be proving you can do every job.
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  The goal should be building something that lasts.
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  That's exactly why this chair exists.
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  And mine?
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  Know yourself.
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  Because your career is going to encounter people who have an idea of what you should
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  sound like.
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  What you should wear.
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  What you should post.
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  Who you should become.
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  Listen to information.
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  Learn.
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  Evolve.
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  But don't outsource your identity.
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  Knowledge of self gives everything else a foundation.
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  And back up your sessions.
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  Please.
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  Definitely.
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  Man, listen.
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  Your entire catalog cannot live on one phone with a cracked screen.
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  That's financial literacy lesson number seven.
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  Buy a hard drive.
• 12:11
  Two hard drives.
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  See?
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  We're building wealth already.
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  But seriously, today represents a new chapter.
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  I'm DJ Universe.
• 12:19
  Dangerous Zygos.
• 12:20
  Calvin Blingwell.
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  And Lil Bennington.
• 12:23
  Those are your four voices moving forward on Clone Wars: The Spinoff.
• 12:27
  And today we're officially welcoming Lil Bennington into the family,
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  into the fourth chair, and into the Hip-Hop Hero League.
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  Bennington, last word belongs to you.
• 12:38
  What are we building?
• 12:39
  Something bigger than one song.
• 12:41
  Bigger than one project.
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  We're building a catalog.
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  We're building ownership.
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  We're building community.
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  We're building something that can still mean something years from now.
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  That's the mission.
• 12:50
  Turn creativity into assets.
• 12:52
  Turn assets into infrastructure.
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  Turn infrastructure into legacy.
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  And never forget: Know what you created.
• 12:59
  Know what you own.
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  Know where the money goes.
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  Know who you are.
• 13:04
  Build your catalog like an asset.
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  Build your name like a brand.
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  And build your career like something your family can inherit.
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  Welcome to the League, Lil Bennington.
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  Let's get to work.
• 13:16
  This is DJ Universe, Dangerous Zygos, Calvin Blingwell, and Lil Bennington.
• 13:22
  This is Clone Wars: The Spinoff.
• 13:24
  Welcome to the new era.