Morgan Wallen and Post Malone were two of the artists BigXThaPlug mentioned last year when he first teased that he had a country project in the works.
But when the rapper dropped that album, I Hope You’re Happy, on Friday (Aug. 22), neither of those artists were on the track list.
Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Ella Langley, Thomas Rhett and more familiar country names lent their voices to various songs on the album, but Wallen and Malone were absent.
In a new interview with Billboard, BigX explained that schedule constraints and misaligned schedules caused those two artists to miss the track list.
Malone is currently overseas with his Big A– World Tour, while Wallen is busy on his I’m the Problem Tour, after releasing that album in May.
Read More: Morgan Wallen Declines to Submit His Music For Grammys Consideration
Wallen actually got pretty close to being on the project, BigX continues: He was slotted in for a song called “All the Way,” which wound up being a duet with Bailey Zimmerman.
“[Wallen] had some stuff happening at the time. It just wasn’t the right time for him,” the rapper explains.
A Blessing in Disguise?
In hindsight, he’s happy it wound up being Zimmerman who featured on that track.
“If I would have made that song with Morgan Wallen, it would’ve still went crazy, might’ve even went crazier than it did,” BigX continues. “But it wouldn’t have went crazy because of me. Morgan Wallen’s one of the biggest country artists in the world. So that kinda would have been more on his shoulders than on mine.”
“So I feel like with Bailey, doing it together, it kind of equaled out. We helped each other out,” he relates. “We got to see each other rise from that song.”
BigX Has Become Close Friends With Shaboozey
Another big name who appears on I Hope You’re Happy is Shaboozey. Those two artists also worked together last year on the Shaboozey-led “Drink Don’t Need No Mix,” and BigX says they’ve become close friends.
So much so that Shaboozey presented BigX with Billboard‘s 2025 Innovator of the Year Award earlier this summer — even though BigX says that Wallen was originally in the mix to serve as presenter for that award.
“I think Morgan Wallen or somebody else was supposed to give me that award, but they seen how well me and Shaboozey were together,” he recounts, saying he and Shaboozey have been “locked in” as close friends for months now.
There’s Room For More Duets in the Future
But even though he’s happy with how the track list for I Hope You’re Happy turned out, BigX points out that there’s always room for collaborations with Wallen and Malone in the future.
“You never know if there’s a deluxe coming out with those guys on there,” he hints. “You just can’t hang it up.”
I Hope You’re Happy dropped on Friday (Aug. 22.) Per CBS, BigX was arrested in Dallas, Texas one day earlier, before his scheduled appearance at an album release party. He was charged with marijuana possession and illegal possession of a firearm. He has since been released from jail.
30 Best Morgan Wallen Songs Every Fan Should Know by Heart
We’ve even included a few early favorites from his 2025 project, I’m the Problem.
