I am embarrassed to admit that it took me so long to discover EarthGang.
They have that hip-hop style I love, keeping the spirit of Outkast (fun, freaky, dirty South) alive, and have earned comparisons to that particular ATL duo because of their Afrocentric, psychedelic qualities; their experimenting with tempos, delivery styles, and production genres; and how they churn out tracks mostly free of violence, misogyny, and zealous, plutocratic dreaming. They’re a duo, too—rappers Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot). Of course, EarthGang have their own idiosyncratic ways and don’t actually sound much like Outkast.
Olu and WowGr8 came together in high school, further cementing their friendship and creative collaborating in college, where they spent their time recording in dorm rooms with local producers. They released a few LPs, an EP, and several mixtapes and comps via their own Spillage Village label (also the name of their Atlanta/Baltimore collective), before catching the ear of J. Cole, who signed them to his Interscope imprint Dreamville Records in 2017.
