There’s a certain electricity that emerges from a group of artists who not only work together but also live together. Not in the literal sense, but in the way that their lives are so intertwined that music becomes the natural byproduct of friendship, rather than business.
That’s 1Umbrella: Lil Bean, Lil Yee, ALLBLACK, 22nd Jim, and ZayBang. They’re five Bay Area artists who spent years building their individual careers, before one studio night changed everything.
“Really, it’s all about timing,” says San Francisco rapper Lil Bean.
They had already worked together on various projects, but when Lil Bean, Lil Yee, and 22nd Jim posted a collab track called “Cash Sh*t,” the positive feedback sparked an idea.
“We were just like, ‘Man, let’s just put [a supergroup] together,’” Lil Bean says. Once the idea was in the air, San Francisco label EMPIRE‘s studio gave them the space to make it real.
The result is 1Umbrella, the group’s self-titled debut. It’s comprised of 15 high-voltage tracks, with guests from across the region: Larry June, DaBoii, Rexx Life Raj, 1100 Himself, Lingo, and Dooder. The title carries the weight of intention.
“The album title says what our movement is like,” says Lil Bean. “We are all under one umbrella. We all came together as a collective, and we’re just showing our unity, versatility, and brotherhood in one project.”
What 1Umbrella delivers is modern Bay Area rap stripped of mythology and rebuilt from the ground up.
Forget hyphy, forget mobb music; this isn’t a record that nods to the Bay’s past. It’s heavy bass, lifestyle flex, turf pride, and in-your-face bravado, built from diary entries pulled straight from the street.
Its five artists have spent years embedded in local culture and are finally all in the same room, turning lived experience into something polished enough for the main stage.
The album’s sound roams freely (hard trap, smooth West Coast cool, straight R&B), but every track carries the same weight underneath: real life, documented and turned up loud.
Its five creators come from different corners of the Bay. Lil Bean and ZayBang are both from San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley—specifically, the Geneva Towers—while Lil Yee reps the Fillmore. ALLBLACK and 22nd Jim bring Oakland into the fold. Each carries with them the distinct sonic fingerprints of his neighborhood.
The question of how those identities merged without collision is one Lil Bean answers with ease.
“Everybody just came in and was themselves,” he tells 48 Hills. “It’s like the Power Rangers when they all come together and make the Megazord. We all can do our thing individually, but when we come together, we’re unstoppable.”
Those distinct energies play out vividly throughout the runtime of their debut album. The opening title track sets the tone—the group celebrating wins, wealth, and the love of their fans, with a music video that takes them from a Maybach through San Francisco’s streets to a boat crossing the Bay.
“One of Those,” “CODE,” and “Baller Blockin” continue in that mode of confident self-assertion.
On “The Blueprint” (featuring ALLBLACK, 22nd Jim, and DaBoii), they make their position clear: no other rap group can compare, and anyone looking for beef should think twice. The booming, ATL-leaning production and DaBoii’s scorching double-time closing verse make it a standout early highlight.
The Larry June-featuring “Off Top” pivots to smooth self-possession. At the same time, “No Gimmicks” doubles down on authenticity over harp instrumentals—the group reminiscing on life before wealth, making clear that everything they do is real, no shame attached.
Then comes “Pretty,” and the album shifts register entirely. Lil Yee leads with lilting melodies and unguarded romanticism, Lil Bean follows with a flirtatious verse, and what emerges is a genuine R&B love song. Lil Bean considers it the album’s defining track.
“I think ‘Pretty’ is the standout record,” he says. “It’s a lot of standout records, but I just think ‘Pretty’ is going to stand the test of time. I see the girls gravitating to it. And once the girls gravitate to something, the dudes gotta listen to it, trying to please the girls.”
The surprise of it is part of the point. “When you hear about a Bay Area collective, you probably think we sound a certain way,” says Lil Bean. “But this record is like an R&B record. It shocked everybody that we could do that.”
That element of surprise is, in many ways, the whole point of 1Umbrella’s existence. Bay Area hip-hop has long struggled with a perception problem, confined by external narratives that flatten its breadth into a single recognizable sound. This album formed, in part, as an act of resistance against that.
“The Bay Area artists have a stigma, like a barrier, for us,” Lil Bean says. “And we came together to show unity and try to break that door down. We always used to say, even before we formed the group, ‘If one of us breaks the door down, all of us are going to come through.’ That’s why we made the group to power that source.”
The promotional rollout has matched the album’s communal energy at every turn. The group did a record signing at Amoeba Music, a pop-up at One Montgomery, and flew a private jet from San Francisco to LA to shoot the video for “Off Top” with Larry June. A ferry ride from Pier 39 went viral when the group’s unfiltered reactions caught fire on TikTok and Instagram.
And now, in what might be the most on-brand move yet, they’re partnering with IB’s Cheesesteaks for a pop-up in Oakland. On Sun/29, from noon to 4pm, 1Umbrella will take over the IB’s location in Oakland to promote a limited-edition chicken chopped-cheese burger with the 1U logo seared into the bun, plus a double-cup purple lemonade with a custom cocktail umbrella.
Through it all, Lil Bean speaks about San Francisco with the tenderness of someone watching a beloved place change faster than he’d like. He lists the closures in Union Square, the friends who’ve been priced out to the East Bay and Sacramento, and the neighborhoods being remodeled beyond recognition.
He finds some encouragement in what EMPIRE CEO Ghazi Shami is building—a San Francisco-rooted infrastructure that major events increasingly rely on. “Any big event, they’re coming to him, and he’s so San Francisco,” Lil Bean says. “It doesn’t get any more San Francisco than him.”
As for what comes next: a deluxe edition of the 1Umbrella album, solo projects that were pushed back to make room for this one, and a big San Francisco show in the works. And somewhere down the line, another LP.
“It is a big moment for us, but it’s also the beginning of a movement with more to come,” says Lil Bean.
With five voices under 1Umbrella, they’re emboldened to storm the Bay Area and beyond.
Stream 1Umbrella here.
