K. Michelle calls out Shaboozey, says Black country artists should support one another

The singer claims a potential collaboration fizzled after early conversations and says Black artists in country music deserve stronger support from each other.

K. Michelle didn’t hold back during a recent Breakfast Club appearance, using her time on the mic to air frustrations about how she says Black artists in country music treat one another, with Shaboozey squarely in her sights.

In a clip from “The Breakfast Club,” circulated by The Neighborhood Talk, the singer said Shaboozey initially slid into her DMs with complimentary messages and casual conversation. She said his A&R was also trying to reach her. But when she followed up about a possible collaboration, she claims the communication went cold.

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“When I text you about a feature, you don’t answer back,” she said, adding that she rarely asks anyone for features and hadn’t sought him out in the first place. Her frustration wasn’t about the record itself, she stressed, noting she has Dolly Parton on her project. What bothered her was the silence and what she read into it. She suggested he was reaching out to appear connected to Black audiences without following through, saying pointedly, “Don’t be texting me… when you need to show urban.”

She then took it a step further, saying that she doesn’t need a feature from him because “once they find out you don’t like Black women, it’s over for you anyway.” Shaboozey has not publicly responded.

Beneath the shots, though, K. Michelle raised a point with real weight. She estimated there are only about 15 Black artists genuinely established in the country scene, arguing that a circle that small should be lifting each other rather than going quiet. “We do each other so bad,” she said, adding that a straightforward no would have landed differently than being ignored.

Her comments land as Black artists continue pushing into a genre that has historically kept them at arm’s length, though recent inroads by artists like Beyoncé, Shaboozey, Mickey Guyton, Brittney Spencer, and now K. Michelle have begun to change that dynamic.