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At the beginning of his career, Shaboozeys interests in country and rap felt like dueling contradictions.
WhenLady Wranglerunderperformed, Republic dropped Shaboozey.
Only with the confident backing of new managers did he finally begin pursuing the sound he wanted.
Now, Shaboozey has all of America singing along.
1 on the all-genre chart.
Now, Shaboozey is once again proving how successful it can be.
But what makes that fusion such a winning combination?
Its in the very novelty of bringing those genres together.
But when it came to country-rap, Shaboozey had a lane to himself.
For multiple weeks, A Bar Song (Tipsy) was No.
1 in sales, streaming, and radio, the three factors that decide Hot 100 rankings.
Like Old Town Road which never topped the radio charts but did spend 16 weeks at No.
1 for sales and 20 weeks for streaming fans couldnt get enough of it.
At one point, a hit had to be aneventto have those kind of legs.
Obviously, Cyrus didnt have nearly the same clout as Bieber.
Instead, it was that country-rap blend that convinced listeners to ride with a new artist like Lil Nas.
But each can make the other more approachable.
Bringing in rap or country fans can help, but the goal is broad, four-quadrant pop appeal.
Shaboozey was only able to vindicate Lil Nas with a No.
1 at country airplay once hed already become too big of a pop hit for the genre to ignore.
Republic kicked Shaboozey out the door.
Will it make that mistake again?
