Johnny Venus

A ninth-grade field trip in south-west Atlanta

Johnny Venus was born Olu Onyemachi Dakarai Fann in Atlanta on 9 October 1989. The story he tells of EarthGang's beginning is unusually specific: he met Eian Parker, later known as WowGr8 and before that Doctur Dot, on a ninth-grade field trip while both were pupils at Benjamin Elijah Mays High School, and it was Fann who proposed that they start a group. The duo formally came together in 2008, still at school, and the Venus and Dot aliases date from that period.

What set them apart from the trap-dominated Atlanta of the late 2000s was a debt to outsider Southern rap, the OutKast and Dungeon Family lineage, rather than the club. Around the same time they co-founded Spillage Village, a loose collective that grew to include JID, Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant, 6lack, Mereba and Benji. That camp remains Fann's creative family; when he speaks about his solo project he still refers to it as the place his gifts were allowed to grow.

From self-released oddities to Dreamville

EarthGang's first full-length, Shallow Graves for Toys, arrived in July 2013, followed by Strays with Rabies in November 2015. Both were independent releases and both built a reputation on the road rather than on radio. The turning point came in August 2017, when the duo signed to J. Cole's Dreamville Records. They marked the deal with a trilogy of EPs in quick succession: Rags in August 2017, Robots that October, and Royalty in February 2018.

Mirrorland, released in September 2019, was the major-label debut and the record that fixed the group's identity in the wider culture: a psychedelic take on Atlanta filtered through The Wizard of Oz, with Venus's high, elastic voice as its most recognisable instrument. The same year they appeared across Dreamville's Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation. Two songs from that era earned Grammy nominations, the posse cut Down Bad in 2020 and Collide, their collaboration with Tiana Major9, in 2021. Ghetto Gods followed in February 2022, and the fifth album, Perfect Fantasy, in October 2024. A Coachella slot in 2023 confirmed how far the two schoolfriends had travelled.

So Beautiful: the solo deal

The solo era began on 28 February 2025 with So Beautiful, a duet with fellow Spillage Village member 6lack. It arrived alongside the announcement of a separate solo record deal with Sincethe80s/Epic Records, distinct from EarthGang's Dreamville arrangement. Venus framed the move in almost mythic terms at the time, calling it his saga, the story of his own journey and growth, while promising there would still be Easter eggs for longtime fans. Asked why now, his answer was simply that now is all we have. The album was then being trailed under the working title Earth 2 Olu.

An EP called Shooter followed later in 2025. In an interview published in May 2025 he described the album he was building as a rich dish for the hearts of the people, and confirmed that EarthGang would continue in parallel, with support from Parker, Cole and Bas. The same piece sketched a life beyond music: a wellness brand, COMPXSS, with clients including NBA players, Nike, Lululemon and Soho House, an environmental non-profit run through EarthGang, and a recent civic honour from the City of Atlanta.

I Want You Back, Porsche 911, Nightmares

The album campaign proper started on 3 April 2026 with I Want You Back, a guitar-led ballad produced by Grammy-nominated Dominique Sanders with songwriting from Baby Tate and arrangement by Venus himself. He described it as a plea for a second chance, a man admitting he was wrong and vowing to do whatever it takes to make it right, adding that love needs fighters, people willing to risk it all. The single deliberately leaned into R&B, soul and funk rather than rap, with the falsetto out front.

Porsche 911 arrived on 30 July 2026, a Southern-funk groove built around the refrain pretty brown round, break it down to the floor, and pitched as a celebration of Black love and partnership built on growth and mutual support. Later coverage credits The-Dream as a collaborator on the track. Then, on 3 September 2026, came Nightmares, produced by Courtlin Jabrae and Poplord, written by Fann with Brittany Barber, Yakki Davis and Jabrae, recorded at Structure 19 Studios, mixed by Neal H. Pogue and mastered by Mike Bozzi at Bernie Grundman Mastering. That is a heavyweight technical crew for a single, and a signal of how seriously the label is treating the record.

By the Nightmares release the album had a new name. It is now billed as The 11th Hour, due in autumn 2026, and described as moving through R&B, soul, funk and hip-hop with live instrumentation, its subject the different forms love can take, from exhilaration and intimacy to uncertainty, healing and transformation. Whether the earlier Earth 2 Olu title was abandoned or absorbed has not been explained publicly, and an exact release date had not been confirmed as of early September 2026.

Standing, September 2026

Venus's position is that of an established group frontman making a genuine stylistic shift rather than a side project. Three singles across five months, a fixed album title and a major-label campaign put The 11th Hour squarely in the autumn release schedule. Coverage so far has come from the trade and lifestyle press, with Newsweek running the April single as an entertainment feature; there are no full album reviews yet because the album is not out.

EarthGang, meanwhile, remains active. Setlist.fm logs 36 documented shows for the duo in 2025, its busiest touring year since 2022, and Songkick counts 50 dates that year. The pace slowed sharply into 2026 as Venus turned to the solo record: only two EarthGang setlists are logged for the year, a festival appearance at KASSO FEST Skate & Sound in Long Beach on 21 and 22 March 2026 was listed, and the duo was shown as off tour with nothing scheduled as of September. No solo tour for Johnny Venus had been announced by the same date.

What the shows have been like

Until The 11th Hour has its own live presentation, the best guide to a Johnny Venus performance is the EarthGang show, where he is the melodic half and the more theatrical presence. The Perfect Fantasy tour in early 2025 was a two-man affair, Olu and WowGr8 with no band, and a fan account from a January 2025 date describes a set that swung between laid-back songs and mosh-pit-inducing ones, with a crowd that took time to warm up before the energy climbed. Songs noted that night included Run It Up, Top Down, Deep Blue, Down Bad and Wells Fargo, and during Deep Blue the pair stopped to sign vinyl held up at the barrier, including copies of Mirrorland and Revenge of the Dreamers III.

The statistics bear out that shape. Across 192 logged setlists from 2014 to 2026, EarthGang's most-played songs are Top Down, Proud of U, This Side, UP and Down Bad, a spread that reaches from the Rags EP through Mirrorland to Perfect Fantasy. Those are the moments a Venus solo show will have to compete with, and it is telling that his three 2026 singles are all mid-tempo love songs with live instrumentation rather than anything designed to open a pit.