Meet Shaboozey, rising music star and EmRata’s rumoured BF: the Nigerian-American genre-smashing country artist features on Beyoncé’s latest album and a Spider-Man soundtrack

His hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, a clever twist on J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy”, shot to No 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, dethroning Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em”, and making history as the first time two Black artists topped the chart in consecutive weeks since 1958, according to Billboard.

From his background to his career goals, here’s everything we know about Shaboozey.

Shaboozey’s stage name is a clever twist on his surname

Collins Obinna Chibueze, better known as Shaboozey, shared in a chat with New Wave Magazine that his catchy stage name is actually a twist on his last name, which originally means “God is King” in the Igbo language. People kept mispronouncing it, so he decided to just run with it.

What is Shaboozey’s background?

Shaboozey told NPR that, while he loves his home state of Virginia, leaving was essential for his growth as an artist. “I had to leave to get to where I’m at right now,” he said.

In a chat with GQ, Shaboozey shared how, with both his parents hailing from Nigeria and his dad being an immigrant, his love for country music comes partly from his home nation’s agricultural scene. “Agriculture is a big thing over there,” he explained.

The 29-year-old spent part of his childhood at a boarding school in Nigeria, which immersed him in diverse cultural experiences and strengthened his connection to his Nigerian heritage, per Okay Africa.

Did Shaboozey always want to get into music?

Shaboozey’s journey to music started with a dream of being a novelist, as he revealed to Harper’s Bazaar. “I was always telling stories, always trying to find ways to create something,” he shared.

Shaboozey’s career took off during the SoundCloud rap boom. According to his IMDB page, he dropped his first single “Jeff Gordon” in 2014, but his debut album, Lady Wrangler, with 11 tracks, wasn’t released until October 2018.

The Washington Post reports that he moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and signed with Republic Records. By 2021, Nashville executive Eric Hurt had signed him to Empire Records.

His Beyoncé collaboration brought him worldwide fame

Shaboozey had plenty of positive words for Queen Bey, too. “I definitely noticed how hard she works day in and day out,” he told E! News.

He teamed up with Duckwrth for a song in a Spider-Man film

Shaboozey also hit a high note in 2018 when he collaborated with rapper Duckwrth on the song “Start a Riot” for animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.