If there was ever a hip-hop artist who let creativity take the reigns of his career, it would be Ben Reilly.

For fans of Marvel Comics, the name and story may be familiar, but for the Atlanta-based rapper, he may not possess superpowers, per se. However, he can describe his life’s journey with excellent precision. The Brooklyn native spent the first half of his life in the Big Apple and made the journey down south during his teenage years.

The combination allowed him to deeply appreciate the emceeing prowesses of Nas and Rakim – his two biggest lyrical inspirations while catching much of the Atlanta culture for when it was time to begin ramping up his musical artistry. He says both cities provided him with perspective.

“Spending a great deal of my life in both places, I treat both places as home. Outside of music is really just culture,” he told BET during a recent interview. “When it comes to how I approach beats or songwriting or hooks, it's very Atlanta-sounding and I love to do that. I feel like Atlanta creatively is undefeated, but I feel like New York when it comes to substance, lyrics, punch lines, bars, and aggressiveness.”

Part of Reilly’s brilliance is his transparency – not only about himself but how he sees the world. Songs on his newly-released EP Not Your Hero 4 Hire relay his imperfections, like on “Edna (Capes),” where he raps “I can't wear no capes” to save misguided souls, but then on “Photoshoot” views why they’re erroneous.

Not Your Hero 4 Hire also follows the theme of being a clone of Peter Parker, infusing each of the six tracks with a superhero scope and themes as if he’s trying to translate the graphic novel that is his life through succinct bars.

“The album is really my superhero origin story. I was trying to find different types of songs or like ideas that I can really talk about my life and tie it into,” he says of the project, particularly “Edna (Capes).” “I also wanted to tie in just brief stories about my life and both of the verses.”

That attention to detail also plays itself out in the videos Reilly drops. Proudly involved in the storyboarding, treatment, and directing elements of them – the visual components of his music are always crisp with a pointed direction. His inspiration for them comes from literally everywhere.

“I like to reference like old photography, like some Andy Warhol or Gordon Parks stuff, things of that nature,” he explains. “I'll take references from old film or old photography and be like, ‘Yo, what if we modernize this and put our own spin on it? I like to reference old Avatar commercials and things like that.”

Through his appreciation for Atlanta’s culture, Reilly featured KEY! on the song “Clones (Flattery),” which he labels a full-circle moment for him. It’s particularly special for him, considering the 777 rapper had already been watching his career progress when he approached him about hopping on the EP.

“Him telling me, ‘I see you doing your thing,’ That meant a lot to me,” he details. “When I came up with the song, I was in the space of like, I saw a lot of people trying to do videos like mine or make songs like mine, and I found myself getting frustrated with it. So I started to make a song about that. Over time, I don't feel like that anymore. It's a very childish way of thinking. It's like we are all here to inspire each other and we are all in this together.”

These life lessons have been laid before Ben Reilly to prepare him for what’s next musically. Currently on tour in Europe in support of Westside Boogie, he’s working on his first full-length album, which he reveals is titled Save and says is 60-70 percent completed. It will serve as his official debut and unleash the next major step of his career.

First, he wants to see how his music translates to his fans across the pond.

“I'm excited to even encounter the language barriers and things. I want to have that culture shock,” Reilly describes. “I want to see the differences, build an audience, see the excitement, and how different it is from what I'm used to.”

Preeminent Visual:

Latest Release: