#7. (ENG) Culture Conversations - Balance, masculinity and staying rooted with Olu from EARTHGANG

On multitudes, artistry and reconnecting to oneself through Yoga.

I met Olu last year in Paris, it was an evening during Paris Fashion Week where we both found ourselves taken by the LA vibes of a local party who made waves from the West Coast to the city of love. Cool, calm and collected we exchanged a few words and started following each other on Instagram, where in time I learnt more  not only about  his undeniable talent as a musician,  but his wellness practice that is at the center of everything he does and everything he is. I have been intrigued to learn more.

Olu aka Johnny Venus

I am in Milan, the sun is shining and I am drinking an iced chai that I have just made. Olu is on the other side of the world, in Atlanta, as we start our conversation, casually matching hair bandanas. For who’s not familiar, Olu is a member of Atlanta native musical duo EARTHGANG, an American hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia, composed of Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot – born Eian Parker). They are co-founders of the musical collective Spillage Village, with JID, Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant, 6lack, Mereba, and Benji.

Musical group, EARTHGANG

As that was my first introduction to him, I asked him how he got into music? Where did everything start?

I have always felt connected to music. It connected to me and with me in ways that made me feel that there was something magical about life in it, even when I would just catch myself singing and listening to some of my favorite artists with my father. I simply loved it so much, I was taken by it. Whenever music was playing, whether it be rock 'n' roll, rap, pop it would just kinda activate like something in my body, a sort of spiritual connection. From that I started writing rhymes and I was like “oh this is natural, this is kind of cool” and it started there and then; but you know the more life continues to move in your journey you realize that some things are gift, this is a gift and maybe you can be able to live through it and with it. What began as a hobby, turned into a gift, a calling, a real passion.

So how did EARTHGANG come about, how did one become two?

EARTHGANG started in high school, we were two friends having fun, then we went on to Hampton University for college and continued to create music there, realizing that we had something special. Then all of a sudden we got our first booking with Stanford University for a festival and here we go. We are at Stanford, it’s our first time in California, first time out of Atlanta and it was just super dope for us. It was a crazy experience,  and it kind of really let us know that we had something ,so we just continued to push forward and eventually things just got to the point at which they are today.

EARTHGANG it’s quite an introduction as a name. It literally says earth, it recalls the ground, soil, and mutually the word gang is just as strong; alluding to community, to strength as well commonalities. It resonates with a connection to our roots, literally which is something Olu feels very strongly about. Being a rap group in today’s scene, the topics which are talked about are redundant and often superficial, which is something I have never found when it comes to Olu and WowGr8’s music. On the contrary, I feel like they are trying to challenge that. Through your music, you challenge visions, images almost, which is something beautiful and very authentic to who you are as a person.

Well, the name Earthgang came about simply because we love this planet, I love this planet, what it supplies, what it gives us access to. As of today being able to explore and travel and actually see the world, it just opens you up to this full experience of life where you're able to connect with different cultures, different people, different energies. This all happens on this planet, on earth, and you know wherever we go, or have been we have seen music is a great instrument, a great tool to be able to do that. I mean we are from Atlanta, but eventually someone who’s not from Atlanta can connect to our music and then we get to go on tour, or just visit these places and really immerse ourselves in the culture and boom, here we connect with something that we are not originally from, btu that still resonated with us. That really shows you how powerful the global community can be and that’s literally EARTHGANG.

EARTHGANG, Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot – born Eian Parker)

I love EARTHGANG’s music, it’s lyrical, the beats are dope and I love how it just takes you from a place to another, in ways that are effortless and never banal. Many of their lyrics make me remember moments and places in time, so I had to ask; Olu, what's one song that you feel really represents the essence of EARTHGANG or maybe  a lyric that really encompasses the message of your vision?

I would say This Side from our project “Shallow Grace”, it’s a fan favorite but it also shows the true character of our music. The arrangement sounds so relaxed we're both talking kind of like how we navigate through life but we still find time to enjoy and bring love into where we are. Then all of a sudden it gets really crazy and turned up; at that point you're able to connect with people and allow them to be seen. 

Being seen, feeling seen, ain’t that what it’s all about? Creating a space where visibility and accessibility are natural conditions, whereby connectivity becomes a byproduct of it. Olu is a writer, an artist, a connector, and also a yogi, which is one of the things I like the most about him, his passion for yoga. So how did your journey with yoga come about, Olu?

Well, my journey officially started around 2019 when Mereba, an artist based in LA, invited me to a hot yoga class, then we went on tour in 2020 and she's actually also a yoga teacher so we met up. While we were at the Fillmore in DC she came to our sound check and she gave us a quick yoga class, which was very refreshing. You know when you're constantly on a tour bus,  drinking, smoking, and casually sleeping at all hours of the night and sometimes day, a 30 minute yoga  class allows you to reset, recharge immediately.   Fast forward to 2020 pandemic started, and I began to go on live and have yoga sessions on my personal account as well as the Dreamville’s with intent of bringing a sort of healing justice to the community, to our family.

I feel like the pandemic brought to surface so many of our inner needs, that we have learned to repress or better put aside in the midst of running after a busy life, countless wants and capitalistic echoes that see productivity as a goal and rest almost as an enemy.

Yoga became a way for me, as well as for many people to reset their energy, to express it, as well as the things that they were dealing with. That’s why we decided to go live every Sunday on the Dreamville channel and I think we came close to 1,000,000 views throughout the entire pandemic and it became a really beautiful thing, wholesome. I enjoyed it so much that it eventually translated into yoga experiences during festivals.The experiences were so full of life, so full of understanding of community, full of love. Many people, being there for the first time, really begin to see what yoga is about: cultivating the connection of being aware of who you are, aware of your space and most importantly of one’s energy and how you want that to show up for yourself and in the world.

How did things evolve from 2020, up until now? How did you grow, how these experiences changed you, and where did they fit into your life?

Well fast forward to 2023 a lot of things were happening in my life; I was constantly on the go, constantly moving, constantly trying to start business and doing business, to the point I found myself being distracted. I found myself running around, doing things that were outside of my path, I just felt disconnected. So I decided to go to Bali. I have been wanting to get my yoga teacher certification, and mutually, the last time that I really focused on yoga I was able to be more into myself, I was able to find myself and just reset myself and my mind as a whole. As a human, but mostly as an artist, as part of a people who constantly use social media to portray a certain image of themselves, while also traveling often, being in crowded spaces, I believe all of these things do affect your spirit.  They affect your peace, how you show up in relationships, your priorities and eventually they affect your goals. 

So I literally said to myself “ Let me go back to square one, let me focus on my spirituality”  and then everything else outside of that kinda fell into place.

Bali is one of my dream destinations. Its nature, the tranquility it evoques, and just the simplicity of mankind to the vastness of the flora is something that takes me completely; can you tell me more about Bali and what has it done for you?

So I went to Bali at the beginning of 2024 January for a total of four weeks and I attended this Yoga program called Yoga East to West, for about three weeks. It was such an eye-opening experience for myself it was and honestly I am still processing so much from it.  It really helped me put into perspective how far off my path I had strayed last year,  it showed me what was the essence of who I am and how to get back to it, but truly. I began to do a daily vlog just kind of documenting my process and progress, and it was tough. It was not easy,  it was a very very tough process because I was holding on so much within me and I didn’t even know. I thought I needed this, that, validation from something,  but then you realize that none of those things matter, really.  Everything that you need is already within you, like the accolades don't matter and much, same with the trophies, all that surface level stuff. Because of what we do as creatives there are so many people coming into your life, and a lot of times these people only come around because they want something from you or because they want to be where you are;  then when and if they don't have access to these spaces anymore they can't continue to pour into you like you actually need to be poured,  it’s calculated and as human beings it shouldn’t be. All of this I was able to see while I was kind of disconnected from it all, yogaing through, stretching through it.

Olu practicing yoga in Bali

Well that’s a lot of realization happening. I feel once you are able to see these things for what they are, your life, or better your approach to life changes inevitably. I am sure it changed you, how did it change you, if it did?

Well it’s true, after getting my certification I came back home and decided to create a business: COMPXSS. I love to travel, I love to connect with people of different cultures and I love to explore, so why not combine all these things together. COMPXSS is a platform  designed to give people the tools to explore themselves and find their way to life. I think we're all on our journey of finding our path and enjoying the explorative part and I want to be able to provide the instruments to do so, a space where we can access what we need in order to always find to ourselved and within ourselves.

COMPXSS is truly a revolutionary movement, it centers on community, wellbeing and most importantly accessibility, something I relate to a lot, having founded The Creal Club which is a platform that promotes culture, conversation and creative healing for black and poc women in Italy and all over the world. Both COMPXSS and The Creal Club are similar, in some way, they both tap into realms that are often underrated when it comes to the communities they cater to. Particularly Olu, you ventured into a realm which is YOGA that until a couple years ago, wasn’t really popular among our community, the black community. 

Although we do have a strong sense of self and I feel that spirituality like it's always been part of our essence, people often don't have the access or the resources to explore different ways to heighten their wellness lever. How important is accessibility to you, whilst empowering your community?

Accessibility is everything, generally it can really change peoples life especially when we talk about you know my minority, like our black community,  people that you know often may want to indulge into this type of things but that either lack the resources\accessibility or maybe they feel like they may not fit in. I want to change that. I'm lucky to have the finances and time to go somewhere for months and not worry about bills, and work. I have all of those things I learned, all of this information, so I want to be able to provide that to our community and ultimately to every community. Anyone who feels like they are or could be “yogis' who feel like they are yogis. If you think about it, if you are in the West when you look at yoga, you get the typical Caucasian supermodel, and when you are in the East this very deep spiritual being, or Indian figure; how do we meet in the middle? How do we allow all people to feel represented and seen? 

Fitting in, what an outdated topic if you ask me, i like the term not fitting in, which I think we both can relate to, and I feel you embrace quite well. If someone was thinking about a rapper you don't actually picture yoga, and well because of you I feel that that’s actually possible. Many people still don’t think yoga is a “manly” activity, but again what does that even mean?  As a man, as a black man, a rapper, an artist, and now a full yogi and yoga teacher  you exist in your multitudes with so much grace and vulnerability, it’s beautiful. How important is it for you to remove this stigma and have you had any controversial comments that made you question your relation to what I feel is part of your purpose?

So, some questions are moved by curiosity, while others, as you said, are moved by you know one’s own definition of masculinity, which is always associated with strength, be assertive and a little less with you know being in a flow. I beg to differ, which something a lot of people don’t know about me because they only see me on stage or they only see me on social media. As men it is important to know that as much as we need strength we need more compassion. More understanding, more grace in order to have more of an insight into ourselves, and knowing what tools and what emotions to use in different situations. Emotions are our weakness, understanding and gentleness are a form of learning them but unfortunately you know TV, movies and stuff often teach us the contrary. Fortunately though I think we are at that point in time and at that point in the timeline of humanity , where we are understanding that rebelling against this norm could be another spiritual level for all of us to exist, and personally if practicing yoga can play a small part in this rebellion then I think we all need it.

Olu practicing Yoga

I feel like being an artist and becoming a yogi like it's just fusing into the same being, a whole new entity; have you seen some differences in how you show up as an artist since you started yoga and truly reconnecting with yourself ?

Well you know, take nature, nature is not always the same. The sun rises and then it sets, the same way, sometimes you want to be active and sometimes you want to rest. Observing that in myself has been crucial. Everything has to be done with intention so it all allows you to have more peace, it allows you to have more energy,  more focus. Learning how to be kind and intentional, it is one of the main things that this is done for me. Giving me the energy to concentrate on what I really want.

What would be your advice to creatives and people that will be listening\reading this?

A lot of people don't know how to rest, meditate so I will say first thing getting right; going to bed at a proper time so you're rested, then rest your body, rest your spirit. Rest is sleeping as much as it is taking a slow walk, sitting down outside for 10 to 15 minutes. It’s small small steps, very small things to do that have a profound impact on your life. Surround yourself with people who genuinely have your best interest at heart, be willing and curious with them and about them. Be curious about yourself.  

As I wrap up this beautiful conversation I wish you curiosity. For yourself, for others, and for the things that you are unfamiliar with. Life is too short, not to try, so why don’t start with you.

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Till we Unravel Again.