The Spillage Village house on the South Side of Atlanta feels like the bohemian clubhouse that it is. Paintings adorn the walls, rooms are divided by hanging curtains, and a few pieces of music equipment litter the main area. There's a dog, Count, who greets visitors enthusiastically, and a whole cast of characters who wander through, greeting visitors more sleepily. Down the street is a basketball court, where the residents spend a fair number of their afternoons. Weed smoke occasionally drifts through the living room. When I stopped by one evening in late summer, the whole crew was sprawled across the couches watching NPR Tiny Desk Concerts on TV—Adele, Leon Bridges, Christian Scott.
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"It's definitely headquarters," explained EarthGang's Eian, better known as Doctur Dot. "It's nice having a headquarters." The only thing he misses about the old EarthGang house is the trampoline in the backyard. Oh yeah, and the time Rico Wade showed up in their kitchen to cook them tilapia and rice in the middle of the night. "He could have came through and murdered all of us," Dot reflected. Like many things said by the guys in Spillage Village—a group that includes EarthGang, J.I.D., Hollywood JB, and the absent Jordxn Bryant—it's hard to tell how much of the story is a joke, but Dot's EarthGang counterpart, Olu a.k.a. Johnny Venus, rushed to assure me it was real.I had reason to believe them: Since I first visited EarthGang's place two years ago, the Spillage Village guys have made all kinds of friends in the music industry and become one of the most closely watched new cohorts in hip-hop. In August, EarthGang appeared alongside J. Cole on DJ Khaled's Major Key, on a track produced by Hollywood JB. They've toured with Mac Miller, while J.I.D. has been on the road with the likes of Ab-Soul and Tory Lanez."We're a lot of people's secret favorites," Dot assured me, adding that the next six months would reveal much more. It's not hard to believe: With their tangled rhymes, innate musicality, and constant wisecracking, the Spillage Village guys are proof that you can make fun music without dumbing anything down. They'll be emphasizing the point on a new project, Bears Like This Too Much, the third in the Bears series, due December 2. The first song, "Can't Call It," the original version of "Jermaine's Interlude," dropped last night on iTunes, and you can stream it freely for the first time below. Featuring J. Cole and Bas along with the Spill crew, it's the perfect showcase of the group's versatility and ability to make super clever ideas resonate without ever sounding preachy.
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I sat down with J.I.D., Doctur Dot, Johnny Venus, and Hollywood JB at the Spillage Village house to talk about the upcoming project, which devolved into several long arguments about the state of music and the art of writing and who was actually good at basketball. But for every joke about the serious underpinnings of their music—"hella strife!"—and debate about Jay Electronica's career, there was plenty to be said for the group's own history as former classmates at Hampton University turned Atlanta's most eclectic-minded music crew.Noisey: So you've got this new album, Bears Like This Too Much , coming. Tell me about it.
Doctur Dot: It's the third part to the saga. We use these Bears projects like checkpoints, markers in time. The first one came out when we first started fucking around with these sounds. The second one came as niggas had toured a little bit, learned a little bit. At this point now, we've been on tours, we've got a lot of other things we've been working on. We've worked with a lot of artists. We've seen a lot more. So this project is the next chapter of that. It's everybody's songs. Some solo songs. Some collab songs. It's definitely a crew tape.Why make a crew tape?
Dot: 'Cause we good.
Johnny Venus: It's good music!
Dot: We're still making music all the time. There's no point in having all this music you're not going to put out. Put it in the packaging and present it to the people. That's what we're going to do 'til we die.
Doctur Dot: It's the third part to the saga. We use these Bears projects like checkpoints, markers in time. The first one came out when we first started fucking around with these sounds. The second one came as niggas had toured a little bit, learned a little bit. At this point now, we've been on tours, we've got a lot of other things we've been working on. We've worked with a lot of artists. We've seen a lot more. So this project is the next chapter of that. It's everybody's songs. Some solo songs. Some collab songs. It's definitely a crew tape.Why make a crew tape?
Dot: 'Cause we good.
Johnny Venus: It's good music!
Dot: We're still making music all the time. There's no point in having all this music you're not going to put out. Put it in the packaging and present it to the people. That's what we're going to do 'til we die.
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How did you guys all meet each other?
Hollywood JB: It was a cold, stormy night.
Dot: We all met at school in Virginia. Me and Olu went to high school together. That's where EarthGang was formed at.
J.I.D.: I'm from the East Side of Atlanta.
Dot: We met freshman year. JB's from Baltimore. He produced some of the early songs we had. He produced "F Bomb." And the remix with Maco. We did that shit in the dorm in college type shit.What was it like working in the dorm together?
Venus: Looking back on that shit, that shit was so beautiful to me. It was like the whole any way, any how.
JB: It was also just trying something.
Dot: A lot of those songs were just to see what you sound like on the mic. Back then, it also used to be hella niggas trying to rap at the same time. You'd just be in the room, and any nigga that was in the room when the beat was on would try to rap.
JB: Eight out of ten people were rapping.
Dot: Everybody that was in the room would try to get on it. Now we all do our records that we've been thinking about, records that we want to do. Back then, it was like "well, he's got a mic in his room." But the ones that stuck out—we've got a couple. They kept telling us about J.I.D.. We first got there, and J.I.D. had been there early playing football. They had practice and shit before school started. So niggas already knew that that nigga could rap. So we came through and people were like "y'all from Atlanta? Y'all must know J.I.D.." We're like, "nah, who the fuck is that?" So it was like, come through the room, I'm gonna play you some shit. So we came through the room, and he played us some shit. So he put us on a song that J.I.D. had recorded. J.I.D. didn't even know.
J.I.D.: I was coming from football practice. I walk in, Eian's recording.
Dot: He came in the room while I was finishing my shit, I think.
J.I.D.: I'm like "who's rapping on my shit!" I was used to real dorm raps.
Hollywood JB: It was a cold, stormy night.
Dot: We all met at school in Virginia. Me and Olu went to high school together. That's where EarthGang was formed at.
J.I.D.: I'm from the East Side of Atlanta.
Dot: We met freshman year. JB's from Baltimore. He produced some of the early songs we had. He produced "F Bomb." And the remix with Maco. We did that shit in the dorm in college type shit.What was it like working in the dorm together?
Venus: Looking back on that shit, that shit was so beautiful to me. It was like the whole any way, any how.
JB: It was also just trying something.
Dot: A lot of those songs were just to see what you sound like on the mic. Back then, it also used to be hella niggas trying to rap at the same time. You'd just be in the room, and any nigga that was in the room when the beat was on would try to rap.
JB: Eight out of ten people were rapping.
Dot: Everybody that was in the room would try to get on it. Now we all do our records that we've been thinking about, records that we want to do. Back then, it was like "well, he's got a mic in his room." But the ones that stuck out—we've got a couple. They kept telling us about J.I.D.. We first got there, and J.I.D. had been there early playing football. They had practice and shit before school started. So niggas already knew that that nigga could rap. So we came through and people were like "y'all from Atlanta? Y'all must know J.I.D.." We're like, "nah, who the fuck is that?" So it was like, come through the room, I'm gonna play you some shit. So we came through the room, and he played us some shit. So he put us on a song that J.I.D. had recorded. J.I.D. didn't even know.
J.I.D.: I was coming from football practice. I walk in, Eian's recording.
Dot: He came in the room while I was finishing my shit, I think.
J.I.D.: I'm like "who's rapping on my shit!" I was used to real dorm raps.
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So you guys were really getting to it. First week of school.
Dot: Bruh, this nigga made a beat driving on the way to campus. We rapped on that shit while we was unboxing our shit.
Venus: Our roommate next door, he had the whole setup. He was like a real music nerd. So everybody would just come there at night and then rap all night.That's crazy you were all so focused.
Dot: 'Cause niggas didn't want to stay up there, man. We were like, "we've got to figure out some other shit to do."
JB: I think that was a big part of it, too. We've got to do something different.
Dot: By the end of college, we was all rapping. We was all friends. Niggas from Atlanta, we'd be sipping lean all the time, putting lean in the blunts. We just did like so much drunk, high ass shit for like two years. We was boys. We started driving to Virginia Beach and recording. We found a nigga in Virginia Beach who had a little studio on top of his auntie's barber shop. We used to go up in there and just make stupid ass records in there all the time.
Venus: We'd record at school, too.
Dot: Yeah, we'd sneak in the music department studio when nobody was in that bitch. I was like bro, we need to just go ahead and make this shit a squad. Let's call this shit Spillage Village. I fuck with it. Y'all fuck with it?
JB: You asked me at a block party!
Dot: I asked everybody except for Olu when they was drunk. Olu was sober.
J.I.D.: We was at this place called Wing Bistro.
Dot: Wing Bistro. I asked everybody when the mood was right! Everybody was like yeah, fuck it, why not. And then we came back home after a tumultuous end to a Hampton experience, and then niggas really started recognizing us around here when we started doing the local shows around here. The one that got us the most attention was Spoiled Milk. That was kind of some shit, bro. Those pictures are gonna mean something. We performed, Young Thug performed that night. That night was so lit. We was on Molly and everything.
Venus: Thug performed. Trouble performed.
Dot: It was like hella niggas who have careers, but nobody knew none of us at that point. Wherever that flier at, that flier is lit right now. This nigga named Buck used to throw these shows called Spoiled Milk or other milk.
JB: Titty milk.
Dot: That's what he should have did. Titty milk would have kept him on top!
JB: They need a reunion show.
Dot: That's when niggas first found out about the squad. We was turnt that night. Niggas did a song off everybody project!
JB: We did so much shit, bro. We did way too much. We drove down from Baltimore!
Dot: This is how history is crazy, you keep orbiting a nigga. We was on a mixtape with Thug before Spoiled Milk. Then we was on a show with Thug, Spoiled Milk. Then Todd Moscowitz was talking about starting 300, and he was shopping all of us around at the same time. He was definitely taking niggas to lunch and shit. Who's on 300 now? Other than Thug?
JB: Fetty Wap. Migos. Dae Dae.
Dot: Damn, they got it together. When they was talking to us the people they had were kind of corny.
Dot: Bruh, this nigga made a beat driving on the way to campus. We rapped on that shit while we was unboxing our shit.
Venus: Our roommate next door, he had the whole setup. He was like a real music nerd. So everybody would just come there at night and then rap all night.That's crazy you were all so focused.
Dot: 'Cause niggas didn't want to stay up there, man. We were like, "we've got to figure out some other shit to do."
JB: I think that was a big part of it, too. We've got to do something different.
Dot: By the end of college, we was all rapping. We was all friends. Niggas from Atlanta, we'd be sipping lean all the time, putting lean in the blunts. We just did like so much drunk, high ass shit for like two years. We was boys. We started driving to Virginia Beach and recording. We found a nigga in Virginia Beach who had a little studio on top of his auntie's barber shop. We used to go up in there and just make stupid ass records in there all the time.
Venus: We'd record at school, too.
Dot: Yeah, we'd sneak in the music department studio when nobody was in that bitch. I was like bro, we need to just go ahead and make this shit a squad. Let's call this shit Spillage Village. I fuck with it. Y'all fuck with it?
JB: You asked me at a block party!
Dot: I asked everybody except for Olu when they was drunk. Olu was sober.
J.I.D.: We was at this place called Wing Bistro.
Dot: Wing Bistro. I asked everybody when the mood was right! Everybody was like yeah, fuck it, why not. And then we came back home after a tumultuous end to a Hampton experience, and then niggas really started recognizing us around here when we started doing the local shows around here. The one that got us the most attention was Spoiled Milk. That was kind of some shit, bro. Those pictures are gonna mean something. We performed, Young Thug performed that night. That night was so lit. We was on Molly and everything.
Venus: Thug performed. Trouble performed.
Dot: It was like hella niggas who have careers, but nobody knew none of us at that point. Wherever that flier at, that flier is lit right now. This nigga named Buck used to throw these shows called Spoiled Milk or other milk.
JB: Titty milk.
Dot: That's what he should have did. Titty milk would have kept him on top!
JB: They need a reunion show.
Dot: That's when niggas first found out about the squad. We was turnt that night. Niggas did a song off everybody project!
JB: We did so much shit, bro. We did way too much. We drove down from Baltimore!
Dot: This is how history is crazy, you keep orbiting a nigga. We was on a mixtape with Thug before Spoiled Milk. Then we was on a show with Thug, Spoiled Milk. Then Todd Moscowitz was talking about starting 300, and he was shopping all of us around at the same time. He was definitely taking niggas to lunch and shit. Who's on 300 now? Other than Thug?
JB: Fetty Wap. Migos. Dae Dae.
Dot: Damn, they got it together. When they was talking to us the people they had were kind of corny.
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What do you think has changed musically for you guys since the beginning?
J.I.D.: Learning how to make it.
Dot: Song structure has definitely evolved. I can say that.
J.I.D.: Making a song has become more than just "here's 16 bars."
Dot: That happens naturally as you get older.
JB: It's just like growing in whatever you do. You're going to learn how to do more stuff.
Dot: How to polish your shit. You make cabinets, you're going to make some rough cabinets. And then you're going to make a time-crafted piece. What's crazy I think also is initially when we was all doing it, the environment at first was hella competitive, just competing with niggas. So you rapping like that. You gonna rap like that. You just try to bar everything up all the time. But as you do music more, it starts to become more women around, and you want to connect to them. It's way better.
JB: It's also finding your own swag.
Dot: That too. Then you start getting a different energy within yourself, like this is what I do, this is why nobody can do it the way you do it.What do you think are each other's strengths?
Venus: It's on!
JB: This is what I really think! He's trash! He's trash! He sucks! They're all bad!
Dot: Everybody brings their own flavor. Everybody's got bars. Everybody can flow. I think we have a strength as a group of adaptability. Niggas isn't scared of any type of beat. There's no type of music we won't at least attempt. We wake up in the morning, and anything could hop out of niggas' Spotify in the morning. You don't know. Just to get niggas' thoughts going. I think adaptability is what we've got, at least on any group in the A. In the A, their shit be jamming, but niggas stay in their comfort zone. We'll hop around. I think that's gonna make us longer lasting artists in the long run because we're going to be able to work with more people the older we get. We listen to everything and we try to do everything.
J.I.D.: I think the strength is in niggas' stories. Everybody came from a pretty solid background. Not even being the hoodest, or whatever. But everybody just got a story to tell, and everybody's stories just come together.
Venus: I think it's the competition. The love of competition.
JB: To be the rawest on the track.
Venus: We're a different type of people. We've got issues. Niggas really got competitive drive. We play games. We be on Madden like all the time. Everything. On the basketball court. Even on our own. Our families, the way we came up and stuff. This man J.I.D.'s been playing sports since he was six, you know what I'm saying? This man Eian, he played soccer. Just gotta compete. And that really helps you sharpen your skills all the time.
JB: Especially when you're competing against people that's just as good. It's like you can only get better.
Dot: Niggas do push each other. That's why I fuck with Childish Major so much, too. He's like the Hawaii or Alaska of our situation. He's gonna keep it 100. Of course we're all honest with each other. But of all the niggas we work with, Childish, if you do some shit he's gonna tell you "I fuck with" it or "I don't." Niggas act like that's not a big deal, but in this community, in this generation, that is a hard thing. Niggas'll just be applauding fuck shit all the time. You need to have somebody who's like "listen, you can do that shit a little better just 'cause you can do that shit better." But niggas don't even want to say that because niggas be so scared of being called a hater. We all hate.
JB: But especially, between us all, we know that the next person can do something great. So if we hear something OK, we can say "I feel like you can do that better." It's not like trying to nitpick and shit. It's we know that you can make the best shit.
Dot: You can't trip on ego, bro. That's the shit that'll keep you low.
J.I.D.: Learning how to make it.
Dot: Song structure has definitely evolved. I can say that.
J.I.D.: Making a song has become more than just "here's 16 bars."
Dot: That happens naturally as you get older.
JB: It's just like growing in whatever you do. You're going to learn how to do more stuff.
Dot: How to polish your shit. You make cabinets, you're going to make some rough cabinets. And then you're going to make a time-crafted piece. What's crazy I think also is initially when we was all doing it, the environment at first was hella competitive, just competing with niggas. So you rapping like that. You gonna rap like that. You just try to bar everything up all the time. But as you do music more, it starts to become more women around, and you want to connect to them. It's way better.
JB: It's also finding your own swag.
Dot: That too. Then you start getting a different energy within yourself, like this is what I do, this is why nobody can do it the way you do it.What do you think are each other's strengths?
Venus: It's on!
JB: This is what I really think! He's trash! He's trash! He sucks! They're all bad!
Dot: Everybody brings their own flavor. Everybody's got bars. Everybody can flow. I think we have a strength as a group of adaptability. Niggas isn't scared of any type of beat. There's no type of music we won't at least attempt. We wake up in the morning, and anything could hop out of niggas' Spotify in the morning. You don't know. Just to get niggas' thoughts going. I think adaptability is what we've got, at least on any group in the A. In the A, their shit be jamming, but niggas stay in their comfort zone. We'll hop around. I think that's gonna make us longer lasting artists in the long run because we're going to be able to work with more people the older we get. We listen to everything and we try to do everything.
J.I.D.: I think the strength is in niggas' stories. Everybody came from a pretty solid background. Not even being the hoodest, or whatever. But everybody just got a story to tell, and everybody's stories just come together.
Venus: I think it's the competition. The love of competition.
JB: To be the rawest on the track.
Venus: We're a different type of people. We've got issues. Niggas really got competitive drive. We play games. We be on Madden like all the time. Everything. On the basketball court. Even on our own. Our families, the way we came up and stuff. This man J.I.D.'s been playing sports since he was six, you know what I'm saying? This man Eian, he played soccer. Just gotta compete. And that really helps you sharpen your skills all the time.
JB: Especially when you're competing against people that's just as good. It's like you can only get better.
Dot: Niggas do push each other. That's why I fuck with Childish Major so much, too. He's like the Hawaii or Alaska of our situation. He's gonna keep it 100. Of course we're all honest with each other. But of all the niggas we work with, Childish, if you do some shit he's gonna tell you "I fuck with" it or "I don't." Niggas act like that's not a big deal, but in this community, in this generation, that is a hard thing. Niggas'll just be applauding fuck shit all the time. You need to have somebody who's like "listen, you can do that shit a little better just 'cause you can do that shit better." But niggas don't even want to say that because niggas be so scared of being called a hater. We all hate.
JB: But especially, between us all, we know that the next person can do something great. So if we hear something OK, we can say "I feel like you can do that better." It's not like trying to nitpick and shit. It's we know that you can make the best shit.
Dot: You can't trip on ego, bro. That's the shit that'll keep you low.
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Where did your J. Cole connection come from? You've made a couple songs with him.
J.I.D.: I went on tour with Ab-Soul, and Bas was there. He just came there and spoke to niggas. Fast forward to niggas on tour with Bas, and Cole came.
Dot: We didn't have any connections to him. He just reached out. He could tell that niggas was going for something, at the New York show. It was tight. He came through and told each of us lines that he fucked with that we said onstage. Like "oh, I fucked with when you said such and such." It was like, oh, this nigga's legit, a listening person. And then we had a couple sessions with him, a couple other people, the Social Experiment. We just ended up meeting a bunch of different people. That's how we ended up on DJ Khaled's project, was we just ended up going around to a bunch of different sessions. We've fucked with actually a lot of people at this point. We're a lot of people's secret favorites.What do you guys want your impact to be long term?
Dot: I want to go down as one of the—
JB: Top of the art.
Dot: Yeah when I get to my 30s and 40s, I don't want to feel pressure to chase a hit.
JB: None of 'The streets need me! The streets need me!'
Dot: I ain't trying to be chasing no nigga that's 17, 16.
JB: Exactly. Rap is a young man's sport. It's like what we were talking about earlier, being comfortable with yourself.What is art, to you guys?
Olu: What isn't art?
JB: Oooh, that just blew your mind!EarthGang is going on tour in Europe with Bas, Cozz, and others, starting November 13. Find tour dates here. Pre-order Bears Like This Too Much here.Photos by Yancey, courtesy of Spillage VillageKyle Kramer is an editor at Noisey. Follow him on Twitter.
J.I.D.: I went on tour with Ab-Soul, and Bas was there. He just came there and spoke to niggas. Fast forward to niggas on tour with Bas, and Cole came.
Dot: We didn't have any connections to him. He just reached out. He could tell that niggas was going for something, at the New York show. It was tight. He came through and told each of us lines that he fucked with that we said onstage. Like "oh, I fucked with when you said such and such." It was like, oh, this nigga's legit, a listening person. And then we had a couple sessions with him, a couple other people, the Social Experiment. We just ended up meeting a bunch of different people. That's how we ended up on DJ Khaled's project, was we just ended up going around to a bunch of different sessions. We've fucked with actually a lot of people at this point. We're a lot of people's secret favorites.What do you guys want your impact to be long term?
Dot: I want to go down as one of the—
JB: Top of the art.
Dot: Yeah when I get to my 30s and 40s, I don't want to feel pressure to chase a hit.
JB: None of 'The streets need me! The streets need me!'
Dot: I ain't trying to be chasing no nigga that's 17, 16.
JB: Exactly. Rap is a young man's sport. It's like what we were talking about earlier, being comfortable with yourself.What is art, to you guys?
Olu: What isn't art?
JB: Oooh, that just blew your mind!EarthGang is going on tour in Europe with Bas, Cozz, and others, starting November 13. Find tour dates here. Pre-order Bears Like This Too Much here.Photos by Yancey, courtesy of Spillage VillageKyle Kramer is an editor at Noisey. Follow him on Twitter.