Five months ago, most of America didn’t know Shaboozey’s name. The singer and rapper had already been unceremoniously signed and dropped from Republic Records, and the best he had to show for it was a guest spot on the 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. But as Willie Nelson says on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, “Sometimes, you don’t know what you like until someone you trust turns you on to some real good shit.” Beyoncé did just that for the rest of the world when she tapped Shaboozey, one of her new favorite artists, for two tracks on her genre-defying Americana album. If that didn’t teach the country Shaboozey’s name, what came next would: his single “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which just topped the Hot 100 for a third week. The song has become such an enduring hit it’s easy to forget how quickly it could have fizzled out.
A Nigerian American from Virginia, Shaboozey got his start releasing high-energy but ultimately forgettable trap songs, which were enough to catch the ear of a major label. But by his first album, 2018’s Lady Wrangler, he had started moving into a more unique lane. On opening track “Dream,” he sings over a warmly picked guitar, the first time a bit of country influence crept into his work. When Shaboozey left Republic afterward, he leaned in further: 2022’s Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die contains a smoother blend of Americana touch points along with percussive hip-hop beats and self-assured bars. Though the album didn’t chart, an eventual invite from Beyoncé to guest on “Spaghettii” — a country-trap interlude on which the pioneering Black country singer Linda Martell waxes about the silliness of genre — was a validation that he was doing something right.
Shaboozey had already begun rolling out his third album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going by then, after releasing the rock-leaning breakup anthem “Let It Burn” in October 2023 (reportedly the song that caught Bey’s attention). Fans might assume a Beyoncé co-sign would blow up any artist, but in reality, none of the other Black musicians featured on Cowboy Carter experienced a prolonged bump in streams or sales like Shaboozey did with “A Bar Song.” His team moved up the single’s release to capitalize on the momentum, dropping it just as Cowboy Carter was slipping from No. 1. As obvious as that decision seems in hindsight, it was a huge gamble. The boundaries between country and hip-hop continued to blur after Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” in 2019, with hitmaker Morgan Wallen collaborating with rappers and Post Malone entering his own country era. But there hadn’t been another full-fledged country-rap hit in the past five years, and aside from Beyoncé, mainstream country’s moment was still exclusively white. Would listeners be ready for a country flip of a party-rap song from a Black artist they barely knew?
It turns out the reasons to worry it would tank were the same reasons that made “A Bar Song” a hit. The track was familiar, even inviting, turning J-Kwon’s 2004 anthem “Tipsy” (which had peaked at No. 2) into a stomp-clap sing-along. Mainstream listeners were also clearly hungry for more country after Wallen’s and Luke Combs’s hits, and Top 40 radio was less doubtful of a country crossover. Plus, fans love a drinking song. Just two weeks after its release, “A Bar Song” had replaced “Texas Hold ’Em” atop the Hot Country Songs chart — the first time two Black artists had topped it back-to-back. (After the genre controversy of “Old Town Road,” country fans immediately welcomed “A Bar Song.”) What gave Shaboozey staying power on the charts when Beyoncé’s single slipped? For one, fans were buying “A Bar Song” in droves after running up its pre-saves, seemingly excited to support another Black country artist after Cowboy Carter. Those sales gains boosted the track into the top ten of the Hot 100, when it then started to gain in radio, which can turn weeks on the chart into months (and where that familiarity is key). While many hits debut at No. 1, the slow burn of “A Bar Song” felt like the kind of real momentum we don’t often see behind a hit, and it reached No. 1 on that chart three months after its debut.
That means last call won’t be coming for “A Bar Song” anytime soon. To hit its third week at the top, the track eked out a win over Malone and Wallen’s “I Had Some Help,” a competing country-pop single from two already established hitmakers. Next week, “A Bar Song” is set to be a rare No. 1 in sales, streaming, and radio, even more evidence of its power. The next test for Shaboozey will be whether he can do it again — a reissue of Where I’ve Been’s first single, “Let It Burn,” could be his next pop crossover hit, or his rowdy “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” with Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug could find gains in the hip-hop realm. For now, Shaboozey has already proved what he needed to. The world was ready for the next great country-rap hit, and he had the goods to make it.
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