A full bar, plenty of booze, a guitar and a chorus that'll make even die-hards want to sing along: Shaboozey's 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' has it all, which explains why he's vying for summer status with 'Not Like Us' by Kendrick Lamar, 'Espresso' by Sabrina Carpenter and 'I Had Some Help' by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, It's easy to categorize these songs, but what exactly is 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)'? Hip hop with a country flavor? Country with rap ornaments? Or some clever fusion of the two that heralds a new genre?
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” isn't the first Nigerian-American rodeo to be born in Virginia. Debut in 2022, Cowboys live forever, outlaws never die, dipped his toe into country waters, leaving behind his brooding first single, “Jeff Gordon.” But Cowboys I still felt very immersed in hip hop. In his monitoring, Where I've been is not where I'm going, comes across as someone raised in the country who also appreciates hip-hop. In doing so, it essentially changed the game. Cowboy Carter (where he made two cameos) fired the first volley at redefining and modernizing the country, but Shaboozey's second album is a complete barrage of all those possibilities.
Country traditions are woven into the album at almost every turn, and not just when the occasional banjo or guitar twang pops into one of its songs. Throughout the record, Shaboozey taps into timeless Nashville imagery: freight trains, loading up and asking Jesus for redemption. In “Vegas,” a city that serves as a metaphor for his life, he “drinks whiskey,” drinks himself to sleep, and finally apologizes to his mom for letting her down. Like a modern-day country outlaw, he “kicks the cops in the dirty hills” on “Last of My Kind,” a slow-motion outlaw ballad.
But the fusion of hip-hop and country is ultimately even deeper and richer, and never a novelty. When he sings, which is often, Shaboozey reveals a weary baritone steeped in Nashville pain. Working with producers Sean Cook and Nevin Sastry, he creates songs that effortlessly blend the deep sonics (and occasional sense of dread) of hip-hop records with the powerful choruses of post-Shania country-pop. “Let it burn,” his advice to a woman in a toxic relationship, is a prime example. is a song that will turn country and rap heads on the dance floor. And he sounds poised to headline the Ryman on “Finally Over,” where he banishes despair through pedal steel and a melody with an open-space beauty.
Just as some country can overdo the nastiness, so can Shaboozey. “My Fault” finds him and his duet partner Noah Cyrus on sweet pop. And when he complains about his life, he verges on modern careerist self-parody: “All my friends have careers/And mine might end/If I don't sell my soul again/For another viral moment,” he laments at one point, for his .. biggest song?
But there's no better example of his lofty goals than “Annabelle,” his own variation on the famous con song. Here, he accuses a woman of charity and admits to “seeking revenge.” Its most elegant line – “Now that we talk less, you're filled with regret/And you drink until I'm out of your head” – is a country-rap version of Stevie Nicks' chorus on “Silver Springs.” For all its bleakness, however, the song is a country outhouse. It's bearish, but bullish. If that doesn't carry on the tradition of the country, then nothing is.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/shaboozey-where-ive-been-isnt-where-im-going-review-1235031053/