Not precisely who I consider once I hear Shaboozey’s music…
There aren’t many new artists – in any style – who had a extra meteoric rise over the previous yr or so than Shaboozey. The hip-hop nation artist, whose actual title is Collins Obinna Chibueze, burst onto the scene final spring along with his music “A Bar Music (Tipsy),” a “nation” interpolation of the 2004 music “Tipsy” by J-Kwon.
The music went #1 on the Billboard Sizzling Nation Songs chart and spent 19 weeks on the prime of the all-genre Sizzling 100 chart. It was the #2 music on the year-end Sizzling 100 chart, and has racked up over a billion streams on Spotify alone.
In fact Shaboozey has made probably the most of his viral hit, performing “A Bar Music” at just about each televised occasion over the previous yr, from sporting occasions to award reveals, main many to jokingly wonder if he even has every other songs at this level.
Music business with Shaboozey’s one music… pic.twitter.com/IwmkfqGRXE
— AB (@AB84) February 3, 2025
And naturally, the music has spawned numerous dialogue over whether or not it’s truly “nation” or not. With its pop sound and hip-hop parts that pull from the unique J-Kwon music, it’s clearly up for debate as as to if the music ought to even be thought-about a rustic music, however regardless, it’s arduous to disclaim that it’s catchy as hell.
With the dialogue across the music, Shaboozey mentioned final yr that he went into the studio with the plan of “flipping a 2000s music into a conventional nation music,” which was fairly ridiculous. It’s truthful to debate whether or not it’s a rustic music or not, however calling it a “conventional nation music” is fairly ridiculous.
However because it seems, Shaboozey was impressed to make nation music by a number of the conventional nation greats.
Throughout a current interview with PEOPLE, the Grammy nominee revealed that he grew up listening to the legends of nation music:
“I might say Johnny Money was some[one] that resonated with me very early on. Marty Robbins, too. I cherished [him]. His voice was simply so candy and distinct. Marty was actually cool, particularly in my later years and seeing the parallels between nation music, storytelling, nation music and hip-hop.”
And actually, I can see the place he’s coming from with the parallels between Johnny Money and hip hop. In fact no one would argue that Money’s music was “hip hop,” however he did embrace parts in his music like spoken verses and deal with social points which might be present in hip-hop. Hell, Money even labored with hip-hop producer Rick Rubin for his American Recordings sequence later in his profession.
Nevertheless it’s fairly arduous to see the similarities between the music of Money and Robbins in “A Bar Music.” The genre-pushing music isn’t particularly deep or significant (not that there’s something incorrect with that) and accommodates virtually not one of the parts of “conventional” nation artists just like the legends Shaboozey grew up listening to.
The singer additionally credit artists like Waylon Jennings, in addition to legendary names like Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, with inspiring him to pursue a profession in music. And whereas his first single might not have confirmed off the depth of his songwriting or his nation affect, it’s far more evident on his newest single “Good Information,” which nonetheless options some hip-hop parts and clap tracks from pop nation, however does far more to indicate off his lyricism and has extra of a folksy sound on the verses than you could have anticipated in the event you had been solely accustomed to “A Bar Music.”
Now I’m not underneath any delusion that Shaboozey goes to be placing out music like Tyler Childers or Sturgill Simpson any time quickly. Nevertheless it’s a minimum of encouraging to listen to that he was impressed by a number of the nice nation songwriters in historical past, so perhaps we’ll see extra of that sooner or later.
After he will get finished performing “A Bar Music” at each occasion, that’s…
