SHABOOZEY GRACES THE COVER OF BET IMMERSED AS HE RELEASES THE OUTLAW CHERIE LEE & OTHER WESTERN TALES

The Grammy-Winning Artist Reflects on His Cinematic Fourth Album, Standing Out, and Building a Western World Through Music

BET IMMERSED Spotlights Community, Culture, and Connection While Elevating Voices Across Black Entertainment

Photographer Credit: Mark Clennon for IMMERSED

FULL INTERVIEW HERE | BEHIND THE SCENES HERE

NEW YORK, NY – July 31, 2026 — Today, BET revealed its latest cover for IMMERSED, its digital-first cover series and content platform, featuring Grammy-winning artist Shaboozey as he releases his fourth studio album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales via Shaboozey’s record imprint American Dogwood, in partnership with his label home EMPIRE. IMMERSED highlights culture architects, visionaries, and trailblazers shaping Black entertainment, and this issue spotlights Shaboozey at a defining creative moment, as he transforms the Western into a full cinematic world told through music.

A dream project that gestated over seven years before, during, and after Shaboozey’s ascension to stardom, The Outlaw Cherie Lee is Shaboozey’s most cinematic and diverse album yet, a classic American story of revenge and doomed love that pushes his trademark trail-blazing, genre-colliding style even further. The Outlaw Cherie Lee is a cinematic outlaw revenge story with a tragic love at its center. After watching her sheriff father murdered by the Bootcut Boys, Cherie Lee abandons the badge and hunts the gang down one by one. In the middle of her vengeance, she unexpectedly falls for one of the outlaws. He believes loving her can redeem him; she hopes loving him can quiet her darkness. They’re both wrong. In the final act, Cherie chooses blood over love, killing the man who loves her most and fully becoming what she set out to destroy. An ambitious display of everything Shaboozey is as an artist and a storyteller, The Outlaw Cherie Lee finds Shaboozey building a vibrant, complex world and taking his songwriting and storytelling to new heights.

In the IMMERSED feature, Shaboozey reflects on the making of the album, his approach to storytelling, and his place in country music as a son of Nigerian parents born in Virginia. He speaks about letting the story tell itself, treating his collaborators as an ensemble cast rather than a feature list, and the responsibility of standing out so the next artist feels free to do the same.

The album's ensemble includes Jamie Foxx and Teyana Taylor, who appear through spoken interludes rather than vocals, alongside Sam Elliott, Leon Bridges, and Kehlani. The lead single "Cowgirl," which is out now, anchors the project with an anthemic through line, born from a single opening lyric Shaboozey labored over: the idea that we are not born to die, we are born to live, and the moments in between are what define us.

Shaboozey also looks ahead to his "Outlaws Never Die" tour, launching September 8 across multiple cities, with special guests including Noah Cyrus, Britney Spencer, and Cassius Culpepper. Reflecting on a career that broke into the mainstream with 19 weeks atop the charts, he points to individuality as his throughline, and to a future that includes giving back to his communities in Virginia and Nigeria, opening doors for emerging artists, and expanding into film.

As a digital-first platform, BET IMMERSED continues to spotlight luminaries and changemakers leaving an indelible mark on entertainment and culture, such as Viola Davis, Jamie Foxx, and Marlon Wayans. The series reflects BET's enduring mission to elevate Black creativity and empower the next generation of leaders.

Explore the exclusive cover story and behind-the-scenes imagery at bet.com/immersed.

ABOUT BET MEDIA GROUP

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About Shaboozey

GRAMMY® winning singer-songwriter Shaboozey is building his own world, carving his lane in the alternative country and hip-hop space. Born to parents of Nigerian descent and raised in the small town of Woodbridge, VA, the multi-faceted artist grew up on an eclectic mix of music encompassing classic hip-hop and R&B, country and blues icons like Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, and Lead Belly, to master lyricists, such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. A true crossover artist, he began his epic rise to stardom with two standout features on Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER—the only artist with multiple appearances on the album. His latest body of work, the critically acclaimed masterpiece Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 and was praised by The New York Times for “bring[ing] hip-hop grit to country” and by Rolling Stone for “honoring country tradition and moving it forward.” The album’s breakthrough anthem, the RIAA-Diamond certified “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” broke the record for the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 while also topping Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay Chart, and Mediabase/Country Aircheck charts. The single has accumulated over two billion streams across DSPs and made history, making Shaboozey the first Black male artist to simultaneously top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot 100. In conjunction with the release, Shaboozey received major critical recognition and a wide array of nominations at the GRAMMY Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, Country Music Association Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards, along with wins at the Billboard Music Awards and People’s Choice Country Awards, and recognition from ASCAP as their 2025 Country Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year. An 8X GRAMMY® nominee, Shaboozey won his first Grammy Award in 2026 for “Best Country/Duo Group Performance” for his collaboration with Jelly Roll, “Amen.” Continuing to raise the bar with each release, his follow-up single “Good News” earned Shaboozey his second #1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart. Most recently, his GRAMMY-winning collaboration with Jelly Roll, “Amen,” also topped Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart with a rare multi-week No. 1. Staying true to his Virginian roots, Shaboozey strives to continue the region’s long-standing tradition of prolific creativity, this time by expanding the scope of contemporary hip-hop and introducing modern Americana to a global audience. His 2024 debut headline Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going tour sold out in every market and he played arenas nationwide as part of Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken tour this past winter. His highly successful 2025 The Great American Roadshow tour wrapped this past fall. His highly anticipated forthcoming concept album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, is out July 31st via Shaboozey’s record imprint American Dogwood, in partnership with his label home EMPIRE.

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