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While speaking to Holler for his new feature interview, as well as delving into the prospect of new music, the creative process behind his lauded 2024 album and more, Shaboozey has revealed that his dream collaboration would be Atlanta trap titan, Future.
Shaboozey has cemented himself as one of modern music's premier genre-blenders, with the ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ hitmaker fusing Hip-Hop-inspired sonics and instrumentals with outlaw country lyricism and storytelling throughout his discography.
As a result, a potential collaboration with Morgan Wallen is just as logical a move as a link-up with BigXthaPlug, who joined Shaboozey on one of the many stand-outs from his 2024 project, Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going, ‘Drink Don't Need No Mix’.
In previous interviews, Shaboozey has teased that he's been working with the likes of Pharrell Williams and Timbaland, as well as hinting that Morgan Wallen was originally meant to appear on one of the tracks on Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going.
Following the immense success of ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, with the whiskey-soaked earworm spending a colossal 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 - tying the all-time record set by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ ‘Old Town Road’ remix - Shaboozey will undoubtedly be spoiled for choice when it comes to possible collaborators.
For Shaboozey himself, though, there's one artist at the top of his bucket list.
“Future. That would be awesome”, Shaboozey muses, “I really think a lot of the Atlanta artists grew up in the same neighbourhoods, the same towns, the same places that a lot of the country artists are in. I'm definitely seeing a lot of Hip Hop artists embrace their country roots, because they have them too. And tonally too, you put an acoustic guitar with certain chords behind a song, and sometimes it's a country song. The stories are the same, and the messaging is sometimes the same”.
On tracks such as ’Vegas’ and ‘Snake’ - which are entirely different texturally - Shaboozey steps into a weary rasp that at times feels like an homage to Future's distinctive vocal.
You can't help but feel that Shaboozey has a point when highlighting the often overlooked thematic similarities between outlaw country and Hip-Hop. Future, in particular, has emerged as one of the leading pioneers of trap's unashamedly hedonistic, Auto-Tune-drenched movement, with the ‘Mask Off‘ crooner painting an alluring yet murky snapshot of a world of endless luxuries, in which he is king.
Although being immersed in a sonic universe permeated by Dirty Sprite and strip-clubs is starkly different to losing yourself in the bucolic imagery of a Florida Georgia Line song, escapism is escapism. Parallels can certainly be drawn between the rebellious protagonist in a slew of Future staples and outlaw country's desperados.
As Shaboozey outlines elsewhere in his Holler interview, when discussing his fan-favourite Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die freestyle, ‘All Men Die’, “I think ‘All Men Die’ is a great song that just shows where I would like to sit. You know, I always talk about the similarities between the themes of modern Hip-Hop and old outlaw country music, and I think ‘All Men Die’ does a great job of bridging and tying those worlds together in a way that feels like, is it Hip-Hop, or is it a murder ballad, or a ballad about an outlaw who betrayed their brotherhood, gang or posse?...I think ‘All Men Die’ is going to hint at my future music, honestly”.
Well, given how influential Future has been over the past decade or so, and bearing in mind the impact Shaboozey has had on the country music landscape in the space of just a year, we certainly hope these two trailblazers find time to hit the studio together ASAP.
Read Holler's full feature interview with Shaboozey here.
For more on Shaboozey, see below:
