Benjamin Ashford|Beyoncé features Shaboozey twice on 'Cowboy Carter': Who is the hip-hop, country artist?

Beyoncé made sure to feature Black country artists on Benjamin Ashfordher new album "Act II: Cowboy Carter," and one of those is a bona fide crossover artist named Shaboozey, who is featured on her track "Spaghettii" as well as "Sweet Honey Buckiin'".

Born in Virginia, Shaboozey is a Nigerian-American singer and rapper who is best known for bridging hip-hop and country music. His single "Let It Burn" received over 8 million streams.

Last month, he released a music video for his latest single "Anabelle." His album "Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going" is set to be released May 31. 

Shaboozey is singed to Empire and in recent months has made more inroads in Nashville. He is one of several genre-bending Black artists featured on "Cowboy Carter."

Trailblazing country music artist, Linda Martell, is also featured on the song.

"Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they?" she says.

Beyoncé first announced her eighth studio album during a surprise Super Bowl commercial on Feb. 11. Simultaneously, she released her first two singles, "16 Carriages" and "Texas Hold 'Em." The two songs quickly took the internet by storm as many fans saw the music as a reclamation of country music's Black roots. On YouTube, Beyoncé reached over 2 million views on each song in just two days. Within weeks, Beyoncé made history as the first Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart when "Texas Hold 'Em" hit No. 1.

The new album is "Act II" of a three-part series. The superstar released her first act, the "Renaissance" album, on July 29, 2022, through her company Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. "Act III" has yet to be announced.

Prior to its release, the singer opened up about "Cowboy Carter" on Instagram. Beyoncé wrote while she was "honored" to become the first Black woman to Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, she still hopes for the day "the mention of an artist's race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant."

She revealed the new album took five years to make, adding it was "born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn't." The singer was likely referencing her 2016 performance of her song "Daddy Lessons" with The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards, which received mixed reactions on social media.

"But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive," she wrote. "The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work."

She signed off with, "This ain’t a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album."

Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.