Yhung T.O. was shaking off a cold when I spoke with him in front of his auntie’s house in Vallejo. The 18-year-old vocalist left California for the second time ever a few weeks back, to join Slimmy B, DaBoii, and Lul G — his SOB x RBE bandmates — halfway across the country in Austin. A few weeks before that, the group wrapped up their first-ever West Coast run backing Sage the Gemini. On the tail end, they touched down in New York for the first time, where E-40 hosted them for dinner. T.O. has bad anxiety, he told me. Being around too many people for too long can take its toll.

When we spoke, he and the rest of SOB x RBE were surrounded by familiar faces, at home in the Country Club Crest. The block filled out the longer the guys hung around outside. Slimmy held court in a dice game. A pair of tiny cousins chased Lul G around while he threw up shots on a creaky portable hoop.

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Around the time three of SOB’s members were born, Mac Dre imagined he might “put the Crest on the map like N.W.A. did Compton.” Twelve years after Dre was gunned down, his legend looms large over the neighborhood. Across the street from where we’re standing lives Kilo Curt, Dre’s Thizz Nation confidant and torchbearer for the label after his death. “That’s Dre's Benz right there,” T.O. told me, pointing out the silver S-class parked in the driveway.

Just over a year ago, a few blocks closer to the Six Flags park that borders the neighborhood, T.O. and Slimmy shot the video for a song called “Cautious.” It’s a straightforward visual — mostly them, DaBoii, and some friends from the neighborhood flexing in front of bandos and swinging a ’90s Mustang — but its co-stars’ chemistry is obvious. The song is a frenetic, high-energy take on mob music, but it’s driven by T.O.’s easygoing sense of melody. It’s something like a proof of concept.

Hundreds of thousands of views later, T.O. and Slimmy united their respective efforts, each bringing a childhood friend with them, in Lul G and DaBoii. In the year since, the four-piece has created a legitimate groundswell. “Anti” and “Different,” songs that are already becoming signatures for the group, are racking up millions of plays and garnering major label attention. Both are anthems about the importance of self reliance and trust in a hectic world. At the heart of their appeal is the same tension. Slimmy and DaBoii drop fierce, no bullshit bars, while T.O.’s glossy baritone adds a layer of drama.

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SOB is a vibrant set of personalities, each with their own strengths, ambitions, and even signature songs. Slimmy’s a charismatic leader, T.O. exudes a quiet confidence. G cracks jokes but offers insight, and DaBoii is mostly silent and stoic, despite being the group’s rowdiest voice on record. The group’s combination of rawness and natural pop gifts have put them in position to be a mouthpiece for their city, but also, hopefully, to transcend the boxing-in that often follows breakout artists from storied regional scenes. Here's the SOB x RBE story, in their own words.



