The FADER unveiled its latest cover stars for the forthcoming Summer Music issue and West-Coast Rap group, SOB X RBE are next up. The magazine highlights these “hometown heroes” from Vallejo, California who are comprised of four members: DaBoii, Yhung T.O., Slimmy B, and Lul G.

The group which stands for “Strictly Only Brothers x Real Boi Entertainment” are no strangers to the spotlight after being featured on the Black Panther soundtrack, curated by TDE’s Kendrick Lamar.

The song “Paramedic!” which features R&B singer Zacari has racked up an incredible 54 million listens on Spotify. The crew in question garners an average of 2.8 million plays on the streaming service monthly with songs like “Anti” and “Calvin Cambridge” featured on their self-titled debut mixtape (2017) leading the pack.

Fresh off releasing their debut album GANGIN in April, The FADER sat down with these childhood friends to talk all things music:

T.O. on releasing tracks as one collective, SOB X RBE:
“We just put one name on it so no matter who song it was, they was gon’ listen to it. As long as it got that name on it, we all got the same audience, the same fans, we all gon’ do the same numbers, they’re gon’ learn about us all as one.”

Slimmy on why the group only released songs as music videos in the beginning: 
“We gotta let them see what we doing, who we is, so niggas won’t be confused when we’re dropping songs ‘cause there’s hella people in the group. The videos really brought us to life.”

T.O. on how the group’s most popular song “Different” was almost never released: 
“At the time, that beat was something different than we ever did before. When it’s something that he don’t usually do, he [Daboii] be thinking it’s weak. He didn’t wanna fuck up my grandma’s house, and I didn’t care, so I grabbed that nigga and pinned him on the couch like, ‘We gon’ shoot this video! Now he’s thankful that I slammed him on that couch ‘cause that video went up.”

T.O. on their loyalty to SOB X RBE: 
“We were all solo artists originally, so I feel like everybody’s gonna take their own route as their careers go and get noticed for what they wanna be known for, and together as SOB X RBE, we can do that. At the end of the day, even if we stopped rapping, it’s still gonna be SOB X RBE ‘cause we all family. My mom is they mom and vice versa. We always gon’ come back and be SOB X RBE.”

The print issue hits newsstands in June and can be pre-ordered here.

Photo and Cover – The FADER/Victor Emmanuel Montalvan.