Sound The Alarm

Sound the alarm! Shelbykay is taking over country rap! She has been putting out some banging singles with great visuals for the past year that is sure to get a lot of plays at every field party in the country. Shelbykay is a 25 year old mom from South Carolina. She has a degree in psychology but says music has always been the one thing she was good at. Even when she was younger and her family experienced some rough times, she found herself on YouTube writing songs to YouTube beats to help her through. She has always wrote music but never went public with it until recently.

She said, “I went to school. I worked 9-5ers. I’ve worked in restaurants. I’ve ran businesses. I’ve got a degree. Music is what I want to do. Music makes me happy and my kid deserves a happy mom. In my life, I deserve to be happy. I’m actually pretty good at it and no one can take that from me. So, I just decided to do it. I did it, I am doing it, and here I am.” Her son, 4, is a big drive for Shelbykay. She was adamant that she brought him into the world and it was her job to make sure he was happy and had the things he needs in life. That is something many people can relate to. Her talent and killer songs have given her the ability to do that. One thing about ShelbyKay, she has the confidence to do big things. Even from the beginning of her journey. Shelbykay found herself in Lenny Cooper’s bar, Average Joe’s Entertainment Bar. She introduced herself to him and told him that she didn’t have any stage experience. She asked him if he would be willing to let her perform so she could gain a little stage experience. He agreed. When the time come, Shelbykay packed the bar and did her thing. Lenny was really impressed with how well Shelbykay did since she had never performed before. That led to Lenny taking her to perform a few shows with him.

After she had a few shows under her belt, Lenny asked if she’d like to go to Nashville with him. He didn’t tell anyone at Average Joe’s Entertainment much about Shelbykay. She went in the booth with him. Everyone in the studio was liked what she put down on the track. It wasn’t long after, at Lenny Cooper’s album release party for Still the King, the label company offered Shelbykay her record deal. Shelbykay hadn’t started rapping with the idea of getting a record deal. She was hesitant about it at first and actually waited two months to sign it. The guys at Average Joe’s, along with the help of Lenny Cooper, came up with a super clean contract for her. She couldn’t refuse it, at that point. She said she enjoyed working with them. They always take the time to listen to her ideas and try to help her fulfill them. She’s got to work with some really big people because of it and she is grateful for it. She’s most definitely talented, with bangers like Confetti, Rockin’ It featuring Long Cut, or Drip Drip. It’s those jamming, up beat songs that draws you in. The girl definitely has bars. A producer told her once that if Ryan Upchurch and Jelly Roll had a baby, it would be Shelbykay. She laughed at the memory and said, “Yup, I’m their baby.”

She gives her success to God because she said none of this was forced. It just happened. Someone at her 23rd birthday heard her rapping and asked her to come in the studio and see what would happen. She said that God knew she always wanted to make music and He made it happen. Time after time, someone, like Lenny Cooper, was there helping her up. Shelbykay and Lenny Cooper recently released a new single called Sound the Alarm. She says Lenny is so fun to work with. He told her when she went to record that if she wanted him on a track just to tell him to hop in the booth. When she heard the beat, she started working on the hook. She could hear him saying, “I just dirtified the residence” and knew he needed on it. Dirtified is Lenny Cooper’s brand. It just meshed so well in the song. She says working with Lenny is like having a big brother that she never had. He’s had her back from the beginning and their bond was instant. She thanks him for the knowledge he has given her and sound advice that he shared about her music. It has helped her grow as an artist and produce great music.

Shelbykay described her music by saying, “Some of it’s fun. All of it’s real. And, it’s most definitely different. Shoot. What’s out now, people can party to, and with what I got coming out, it’s good shit that people can relate to. Being a woman, period, and not having an easy life, but we made it through and we’re bad bitches. And that’s what matters the most. I feel like I got bad bitch music.” Shelbykay is different, but in a refreshing way. When she started, she decided she wouldn’t change who she was to please anyone. She said she didn’t have the mental compacity to do that. She is 100 percent her, 100 percent of the time. Just a real country girl making really good country rap. One day Shelbykay hopes to collab with Jelly Roll and Snow Tha Product. For now, she is happy just making music and having a good time. She has a lot of new singles with videos coming out soon. Some collab work with other female artists are on the board. You’ll have to keep your eyes open to see who it is and what trouble they’ll be getting in to. She promises that she is going keep grinding and keep building in 2021 and come harder with the heat. Her supporters will be set with great music. When asked if she had anything to add to this article, she said, “Follow me on all socials and look out for my music. Other than that, hell yeah. Yeehaw boys, over and out.”

- Ashley Davis