Some artists blow up overnight. And then some artists spend a decade quietly building something so undeniable that when the world finally pays attention, it feels less like a breakthrough and more like an inevitability.
Shaboozey is the second kind.
Born Collins Obinna Chibueze in Woodbridge, Virginia, to Nigerian parents, he released his first song in 2014 when almost nobody was listening. Ten years later, he was standing on NFL stages, appearing on a Beyoncé album, and sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 straight weeks, tying one of the longest records in chart history.
This is not a story about overnight success. This is the story of a man who trusted his vision long before anyone else did, and kept going anyway.
A NASCAR Song, a Trap Beat, and a Production Company (2014)
In 2014, Shaboozey released his first single, “Jeff Gordon,” named after the famous NASCAR driver. It was described as a sparse trap song with a stealthy piano beat, opening with overlapping audio from a NASCAR race. Not the obvious starting point for a future country superstar, but that is exactly what makes it fascinating. The song was raw, genre-defying, and completely his own.
A decade later, Shaboozey would actually share a stage with Gordon himself, telling the four-time Cup champion directly: “You’re the reason I make country music. The first song I ever made that got me any sort of notoriety was named after this guy.” That is a full-circle moment most artists only dream of.
What many people do not know is that the music was only half of what Shaboozey was building. Also in 2014, he founded V Picture Films, a production company, intending to become a writer, director, and producer. A Scorsese enthusiast and film lover, Shaboozey directed, produced, and edited his own video content from the very beginning.
While other emerging artists were outsourcing their visuals, he was building an entire creative infrastructure around himself. That kind of thinking, at 19 years old, tells you everything about the artist he would become.
Republic Records, Lady Wrangler, and the First Real Test (2017-2018)
Shaboozey signed with Republic Records in 2017, having caught the label’s attention with his tracks “Starfoxx” and “Robert Plant.” It was a significant milestone, but the road had not been straightforward. He had actually tried to release a country album in 2016, but that project got shelved. At the time, he did not believe the world was ready for a genre-mixing Black country artist.
So he adapted. In preparation for his debut album, Lady Wrangler, Shaboozey released a series of 20 to 40-second teaser videos on his YouTube channel, titled after songs from the album, capturing him on a farm, at a motorcycle meet, and by a lake. These creative visuals built anticipation and helped establish a full narrative world around his music. That level of intentional storytelling, years before “content strategy” became a buzzword, set him apart immediately.
Lady Wrangler was released in October 2018 on Republic Records. The album showcased the kind of hybrid sound that did not fit neatly into any radio format box, which meant it did not explode commercially. But it planted seeds.
Spider-Man, the Spider-Verse, and a Moment That Changed Everything (2018)
Right around the same time Lady Wrangler dropped, something unexpected happened. In 2018, Shaboozey was asked by Duckwrth to sing the hook for the song “Start a Riot.” It went so well that Shaboozey was also asked to sing the second verse. The song, released in December 2018, was included in the soundtrack to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and led to national recognition for Shaboozey.
Think about what that placement meant. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was not just a film. It was a cultural phenomenon, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and reaching audiences far beyond the typical superhero movie crowd. The collaboration placed Shaboozey alongside major artists like Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, and Lil Wayne on the same soundtrack.
For a relatively unknown independent artist, that kind of exposure was invaluable. People who had never heard of him were now searching for his name.
Going Outlaw: Cowboys Live Forever and the Empire Pivot (2022)
After parting ways with Republic Records, Shaboozey made a significant move. His second studio album, Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die, was released in October 2022 via Empire Distribution. On the album, Shaboozey attempted to highlight the common themes between contemporary hip-hop and 19th-century outlaw music in the American frontier.
The album was bold, thematic, and deeply cinematic in spirit, reflecting his longtime love of westerns and Martin Scorsese films. The project was heavily inspired by western films and frontier outlaw culture, with Shaboozey committing so fully to the aesthetic that every video shoot required renting western wardrobe and period-accurate costumes. It was a full artistic commitment, even if mainstream radio still had not caught up to what he was doing.
Empire Distribution, an independent label known for working with artists outside the traditional Nashville and New York pipelines, proved to be the right home for what he was building.
The January That Changed His Life: Beyoncé Comes Calling (2024)
This is where the story takes a turn that even the most optimistic version of Shaboozey’s team probably did not see coming.
During a songwriting session with producers Sean Cook and Nevin Sastry, Shaboozey raised the idea of interpolating a vintage rap hit. The J-Kwon lyric “everybody at the bar getting tipsy” flew out of his mouth, Sean found the chords immediately, and the demo for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was born.
The team knew they had something special.
A showcase at Winston House in January confirmed it: the crowd erupted. And crucially, an A&R representative for Beyoncé happened to be in the audience that night.
A member of Beyoncé’s team heard Shaboozey perform his then-unreleased single at the showcase in January 2024 and asked if he’d be interested in working on her next album. He said yes, recorded a couple of verses, and earned Beyoncé’s approval. Shaboozey was not even sure he would be on the final record until right before it was released.
When the news broke, his phone did not stop buzzing. It never really has since.
Cowboy Carter, “Spaghettii,” and “Sweet Honey Buckiin'” Explained
On Cowboy Carter, Shaboozey featured on “Spaghettii” alongside veteran Black country singer Linda Martell, appearing near the end of the track to deliver some frontier-justice lyrics. He then appeared again to duet with Beyoncé on “Sweet Honey Buckiin’,” a song closer to the twangy hip-hop sound he had been developing on his own albums.
The two songs could not be more different in tone, and that contrast actually told the whole story of who Shaboozey is as an artist. “Spaghettii” was dark and trap-influenced. “Sweet Honey Buckiin'” was warm, country-leaning, and playful. Two songs, two sides of the same artist.
According to his label EMPIRE, Spotify streams of Shaboozey’s music, including both of his previous albums, rose by 1,000 percent after Cowboy Carter dropped. That is not a typo. One thousand percent. An entire decade of music suddenly had a new audience.
Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going and the Record Books (2024)
Shaboozey’s team had strategically scheduled “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” to release two weeks after the Beyoncé album, timing the wave perfectly. And the wave came.
The song tied “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X as the longest-running number-one song of all time on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 19 weeks at the top of the chart. It also became the longest-running number-one by a solo artist at the time.
The song also made history as the first time in history that two Black artists held the number-one position on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs in consecutive weeks, as it succeeded Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” at the top. Shaboozey became the first male Black artist to simultaneously chart at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts.
His third album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, released in May 2024, served as the vehicle for all of this history. Though his earlier music had more of a trap influence, this album leaned into a folk-pop sound built around acoustic guitar. It was a deliberate evolution. Not an abandonment of his roots, but a deepening of them.
The culmination came on February 1, 2026, when Shaboozey won his first Grammy Award at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. The award, for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, recognized his collaboration with Jelly Roll on the track “Amen.” During his acceptance speech, he spoke about his Nigerian roots and dedicated the award to all children of immigrants.
From a trap song about a NASCAR driver recorded in Virginia, to a Grammy stage and a place in Billboard history. Ten years, three albums, and one unshakeable belief in a sound the world had never quite heard before. Shaboozey did not happen overnight. He was always happening. The rest of the world just finally tuned in.
