Shaboozey: country music’s newest star

Shaboozey is carving out his own lane. Building on the success of her appearance on two of Beyoncé’s songs, “SPAGHETTII” and “SWEET HONEY BUCKIIN’,” the Virginia native’s country song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” became a Top 100 hit on the Billboard 100. The album combines the sounds of hip-hop, country and folk right into a sonic melting pot that could be a microcosm of Shaboozey’s sound as an entire. In the face of his newfound fame, he desires to take his music to the subsequent level while highlighting all of the black talent that the genre of country music has to supply.

Born Collins Obinna Chibueze, Shaboozey grew up immersed in an eclectic mixture of music that included every little thing from classic hip-hop and R&B to country icons corresponding to Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks. “My sound comes from this whole melting pot,” he tells ESSENCE. “He comes from Virginia. It’s just Virginia to a T. Honestly, I just wanted to lay the groundwork for other artists in the area to not be confused about what this sound is and should be.” Although his childhood dream was to turn into a novelist, he began experimenting with making music in highschool and shortly joined a collective of local artists – and the remaining, as they are saying, was history.

Now the Nigerian-born singer, songwriter, filmmaker and music producer is preparing to release his debut country album titled The upcoming project focuses on Shaboozey’s incredibly detailed storytelling and soulful vocals. Songs like “Let it burn“, a haunting song about heartbreak”Annabelle” and most recently “Vegas” were met with each critical and industrial acclaim, which raised expectations for the star’s recent work.

“It’s some of the best music I’ve made in a long time,” Shaboozey says of the album. “I’m very excited about the collaboration I’ve had on this film; We introduce them slowly as we speak and they sound amazing. It’s cool to collaborate in this process and have access and talk to some of the people who inspired me to create this project, so I’m really grateful for that.”

With a slate of chart-topping songs, newfound fame, and infinite creativity, Shaboozey has a protracted profession ahead of him – and he desires to take the world with him.

ESSENCE: Your artistry could be very unique. Can you speak about your beginnings in music and what was the primary art form you were exposed to as a baby?

Shaboozey: I believe everyone listens to music, especially at a young age. You are exposed to every little thing, TV, radio, what your parents are playing, just different events, weddings, cooking. So I believe all of us encountered music quite early. It’s probably not the primary day we were born, but in my case, my parents immigrated here from Nigeria. I used to be born in Virginia. My dad, who also went to school in Texas, then moved to Virginia. He was also exposed to country music, in order that got thrown into the combination as well. So it’s hard to reply this query because I believe music has all the time been around me.

In your earlier profession, your sound was more influenced by trap and hip-hop. Now it is a heavier mixture of country, folk-pop and more. When did this transformation in your music occur and what inspired this transformation in your sound?

I believe obviously growing up – I used to be an enormous hip hop fan. If I turned on MTV or turned on , I might see Ja Rule, Chingy, J Kwon and others. That’s why I do know every hit from 1999 to the current – every hip-hop song. In highschool, girls loved Drake and Future, so we began desirous about it. And then I believe sooner or later when it got here to me making music, all of us rapped because that was the thing you probably did. It was sort of what was around, what my friends were playing and every little thing, and within the football locker room, what I mean? You’re not going to pretend to be Garth Brooks simply to get hot.

So I believe playing sports gave me a predisposed must go to the studio. And then I believe after I began desirous about it, I asked myself, “What will set me apart? How can I stand out?” And then I ponder, “What do I want my message to be? Where am I from?” Hip-hop is very important depending on where you come from. You have people like Goodie Mob in Atlanta, Future, etc. You have your people in New York, you have people from the West Coast and the Midwest. So I asked, ” What does this mean for Virginia? Why do I need this where I come from?”

I believe that put me on a mission to see what was around me. What are some features of Virginia which might be unique to this region that usually are not found elsewhere? So I began in search of outdoor things. We have Cabela’s. Many people engage in outdoor activities. We fish, we wish to go to the bay, we go to the paths, to the Shenandoah Valley. We even have the Richmond International Raceway and NASCAR. We got some of these things too. And then there’s also Pharrell, there’s also Missy, there’s also Timbaland, there’s also Patsy Klein, the old country singer. Beyonce put her personal songs on “Sweet Honey Buckin.”

You mentioned Beyoncé in your previous answer. I desired to ask you ways you two got together and what was your experience, recording process like while you made music together with her?

Yeah, after I got here into this place, there wasn’t a number of representation there. Of course you might have Darius Rucker, Jimmy Allen, Mickey Guyton and Charlie Pride, all those people. But it isn’t lots should you compare the variety of hip-hop artists, R&B artists. You go to country music, there’s about 4 or five. As for the brand new ones, again there usually are not lots of them. So I believe after I set out on this journey, I didn’t realize how difficult it might be to realize acceptance there, not only from white people, but in addition from black people and the industry as an entire.

When I did that, I saw it as a chance because people see that you simply are following your path. So I believe when Beyonce decided to take a risk and express that a part of her artistry, it made sense. When you concentrate on this music, genre and magnificence, my name comes up very often. So truthfully, I believe it made sense. Many fans have requested this. Many of her fans asked within the comments, “Oh, are you recording a country album? If you aren’t getting Shaboozey, this will likely be an issue. So the universe, man, a number of people put their energy into wanting this to occur and manifest – I believe it has come true.

You had a successful profession before, but I do know you are getting more attention now, you are energetic . How has your life and profession modified because you appeared on the album?

Oh yes. He is certainly one of the best artists of all time, an all-time artist. Because I’m black, lots of my relations, especially the ladies in my life, are die-hard fans. She’s having a tough time. So to see your cousin, brother or member of the family on something like this can be a crazy move for me. But it has definitely modified. It had some of the famous projects and implementations of the yr. She was making history. We made history or are making history. And that is a blessing, man. My life has definitely modified, as you’ll expect. People are taking pictures and lots of eyes are on me, many ears are on me, individuals are what I say. If I say I ate turkey bacon this morning, it’d make the news. This is cool. It’s great to have such an enormous platform now, to give you the option to confer with more people and spread my message.

How do you’re feeling in regards to the recent popularity of black artists within the country genre straight away?

I believe this has already been done, but I still think there continues to be lots to do. We are still in its early stages. I still think individuals are listening and tuning in, but I still think there’s a number of work to be done. Even when all is alleged and done, I still don’t think there are that lots of us. There are other artists who have not even been tested, like Buffalo Kin, a black country artist who sings more traditional, classic bluegrass Americana music. Kashus Culpepper, War and Treaty, all these people who find themselves still making music that I actually like, bluegrass Americana. So I need to see more people talking about these guys and what they do, because they’re amazing voices that I believe are still misaligned.