BEN REILLY INTERVIEW: VIPER PRESENTS [FEATURE] BOLD ENGAGING INTERVIEW 2025
BEN REILLY INTERVIEW: Meet Ben Reilly, the Brooklyn, NY-raised, ATL-based artist bringing supercharged rhymes to the South’s ever-growing musical landscape. Much like his namesake in Marvel lore, Ben Reilly is carving his own lane through his sonic duality, blending the grit of New York with the soul of Atlanta to craft a sound and story that’s entirely his own. Get familiar…
What five words define your sound?
The 5 words that I say define my sound would be: Dynamic, Hip Hop, Atlanta, New York, distorted but clean.
Tell me something unique about your creative process.
Something unique about my creative process may be two things; when I record my ideas alone, I record them on Mixcraft. Most people don’t know what that is, but the people who do know would be extremely surprised. Most of the stuff you hear from me started there. The other is that I pull ideas from comics, movies, and shows actively in the moment of creation.
Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
I’d choose a few. It’s hard to choose one for me. I think people should hear ‘Charlie Charlie’, ‘Responsibility’, and ‘Don’t Lose The Plot!’.
What inspired you to make that song?
Life and my favorite artists honestly inspired those songs. For ‘Charlie Charlie’, that song was directly inspired by an old Lil Wayne mixtape cut called “’he Best Thing Yet’, which sampled Anita Baker. ‘Responsibility’ was inspired by my experiences with my father figures and my actual father, but musically I was inspired by James Brown and Jay-Z. Lastly, for ‘Don’t Lose The Plot!’, I was inspired by a number of the Jay-Z and Pharrell collabs.
What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?
The most vulnerable I’ve allowed myself to be while working on music has to be when I worked on the song ‘Responsibility’, it took me a while to muster up the energy to finish that song because those experiences and emotions were so strong for me.
What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
The best experience I’ve had on stage is tough to say. I’ve had a lot of really dope shows. I loved every show I’ve done in Austin, Texas. I loved Paris, but I’d maybe say Boston – a kid got my autograph tattooed which was insane. Shout out my boy, his name was Caiden!
As for my worst experience? I’d maybe say this festival in ATL. I love the festival itself but they held the gates the day of my performance which resulted in me basically performing for security. I still rocked out but I was hot!
What is your favourite song to perform?
My favourite song to perform may be ‘Townhouse’ because of me and Guate’s bit leading up to the song. The joke we do always gets a great reaction when the song drops.
Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?
Believe it or not, the song that made me say, “Wow, I kinda wanna do this when I grow up” is ‘Nightmares’ by Dana Dane. The story telling and the animation in his performance mesmerised me when I was young.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
The meaning behind my name originally comes from the comic book character Ben Reilly. Ben is a clone of the character Spider-Man, which is my all time favourite super hero.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
If I weren’t making music, I’d be dead. [Laughs] nah, that’s a little dramatic. But I love this that much and I don’t think I see a life I’d be living without music being a core part of my existence. But for the sake of the question? I’d maybe say comic book artist or writer, maybe.
What’s success to you?
Success to me changes often but at its simplest. Success is the result of achieving a goal you sought out to reach. Even if you haven’t achieved the goal just yet, being able to put your foot in the steps needed to make it happen is success to me.
What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
The moment my song ‘Maytag (Tax Free)’ caught stride.
Where can people keep in touch with you?
People can keep in touch with me via socials, all by the same name: @savebenreilly. They can also just find my music on streaming platforms as “Ben Reilly.”
Photo by BANVOA
