How Shaboozey’s Country Spin on a 20-Year-Old Rap Song Became the Year’s Biggest Hit: ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’

variety.com:

Mike Wass In a fractious America, there’s still one thing that people can agree on: Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The Virginian’s country flip of an old J-Kwon hit rang out from bars, barbecues and car radios all summer, propelling it to the top of the charts.

At the time of this article’s publication, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” had spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Bringing unity and merriment to the masses is a Herculean achievement that Shaboozey credits to the song’s patriotic, wide-ranging appeal. “It has an American feeling to it, that feeling when you think of apple pie,” he says from a tour stop in icy Nebraska. “You got construction workers, firefighters, teachers, everybody just holding their drink up, arms around each other’s shoulders, having a damn ball.

That’s America.” To conjure a modern-day national anthem, Shaboozey — who, with Benson Boone, is Variety‘s Hitmakers Newcomer of the Year — only had to blend hip-hop and country in a ludicrously catchy manner that appealed to widely different demographics.

It turns out, he had been toying with the concept for years. “One of my exes talks about how she feels like I have a disorder, where I’ll just start making songs without music,” he laughs, recounting stories of breaking into song on footpaths and in grocery stores.