Beyoncé struck a match with Cowboy Carter, her cutting-edge studio album that boldly reshapes the landscape of country music to match her distinctive vision. The chart-topping single "Texas Hold 'Em" solidified her position as the first Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Now, one of her collaborators on the album, Shaboozey, parades forward to carry the torch.
(Daniel Prakopcyk. Empire.)
The 28-year old's career began during the SoundCloud-rap boom, a period that continues to inspire his unorthodox creative process. “I don't have a traditional music background. I am definitely influenced by a lot of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia), believe it or not. It’s a big hip hop, big rap scene,” he expressed to GQ. “We have a certain attitude and presence, and a way we go about making music, and just being innovators, in whatever space we're in.”
Shaboozey's hit single "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" skyrocketed from the 6th position on the chart straight to the number 1 spot, dethroning "Texas Hold ‘Em" after its uninterrupted reign of 10 weeks. Remarkably, Shaboozey dropped the track on April 12, and within a mere two weeks, he's already claimed the top spot.
“I cannot say thank you enough for this,” the artist wrote on Instagram. “Being from a small town in Northern Virginia, I never dreamed of actualizing anything even remotely close to this...And to know it’s truly just the beginning. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Shaboozey is also featured on two tracks on Beyoncé’s LP Cowboy Carter, which leads Top Country Albums for a fourth consecutive week: “Spaghettii” and “Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin’.” He recently told Billboard that he’s “so happy to have such a powerhouse of an artist that chose to take this journey to country, so it’s amazing to be a part of that.”
Watch the A Bar Song (Tipsy) visualizer here:
Just a week prior, Shaboozey soared to No. 1, from No. 34, on the Emerging Artists chart and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” topped Digital Song Sales and Country Digital Song Sales, marking his official debut on Billboard’s charts. He adds a second week atop Emerging Artists, while the track paces Country Digital Song Sales for a second frame.
The song is the lead single from Shaboozey’s upcoming album Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, releasing May 31. He previously released the sets Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die in 2022 and Lady Wrangler in 2018. He told Billboard that he describes the new LP as “a little bit of this genre that even Cowboy Carter created, just a bit of everything. A lot of country, but some hip-hop moments on there, too. But a lot of my personal story and journey.”
J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” ruled the Hot Rap Songs chart for five weeks and hit No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2004. The St. Louis rapper recently told Billboard of Shaboozey’s revival of the song, “It really ain’t even paying homage … let’s say it like this: we did that together, and I’m proud of him.”
A Bar Song (Tipsy) can be streamed via Apple Music, Spotify, and more.
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Love this and his music!