Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy): A Decade of Work Pays Off in A Cross-Genre Masterpiece

You may have heard Shaboozey on Beyoncé’s country track Spaghetti, but he has been putting out music since 2014 and have evolved a well hewn cross-genre sound of hip hop and country. His track Tall Boy in 2021 is an example of this genre blend, which was ahead of its time. Artists like Shaboozey and Lil’ Nas X took the lead from African-American country pioneers like Linda Martell and turned country on its head with an infusion of hip hop and cowboy boots. This was met with strong resistence from country fans for some musical reasons, but mainly race based reasons. However, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter has now smashed the country door down for African-Artists and Shaboozey finds himself the perfect person at the perfect time. This best new artist is 10 years in the making and is an artist at the top of his game.

Musically, this track fits well in both traditional country and hip hop. We have classic country staples here…acoustic guitar, whistling, well placed fiddle and of course hand claps. However, this track fits within a classic hop hop 4/4 time with some deep bass that a country song hasn’t seen in a long time. We also have a great bridge where we drop all the instruments out of the mix and just have hand claps, which on one hand is VERY country and on the other has a bit of a grass roots hip hop vibe of keeping the beat. There are a lot of things going on in the arrangement, but nothing a traditional country fan would find out of place. Moreover, there is a great pop sensibility to the track, which is the key to its success.

Where you really see a fresh addition to country music is in the vocals and lyrics. Vocally, Shaboozey straddles this line between spitting bars and belting out some good ol’ bluesy country. This is similar to his work with Beyoncé, which put him on a lot of people’s radar. He has a wonderful vocal that can work in country, pop and hip hop. In a country sense, he has the same quality I love in Chris Stapleton, which is honesty. I believe what he is serving me and buy into the narrative of the song. The narrative itself is pretty stock standard country…the bills are high, my blue collar job isn’t cutting it, but when I am throwing down shots with my friends I feel better. We have heard this from Garth Brooks, Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson, The Chicks…everyone. However, much like Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 there is more to this “work has gotten me down and life is hard” tale than meets the eye. Much like how Dolly was grounding this country trope in gender issues, Shaboozey takes this well worn trope and grounds it in race. Not only is Shaboozey’s race part of his identity and pride, “I’ve been Boozey since I left / I ain’t changin’ for a check,” but it compounds daily struggles more so than white people in his same predicament due to privilege. He has a sly nod to this when he says “They know me and Jack Daniels got a history,” which refers to how Jack Daniels was taught distilling by, Nearis Green, who was a slave where Jack visited as a boy.

This song has it all. It’s got all your traditional country touchtones. It has poppy vocals, hip hop flourishes and a killer hook. It also has clever writing with double edged lyrics of getting hammered and race. This is Shaboozey stepping up and seizing his moment. I hope this leads to more from this talented artist.

Listen to A Bar Song (Tipsy)