Sunny Boy (rapper)

While a student at the University of Namibia, Sunny befriended The Dogg, a fellow student and up-coming artist at the time who then introduced him to Gazza.[1] Gazza was impressed when he heard him Sunny rap on a hip hop track. Gazza then decided to do a collaboration with him on a song "Koko". The song became a huge hit in Namibia and through that Sunny Boy started to hang out with The Dogg and Gazza. He would travel with them for performance. After Gazza launched his record label, Gazza Music Productions he immediately offered Sunny Boy a record deal. Sunny Boy refused the deal to sign with The Dogg's Mshasho Productions. An act that latter became the centre point of the conflict between Gazza and The Dogg.

Before he had a single, he would tour with The Dogg and Gazza to various towns as a back up artist. His first single "Ballance" brought a new vibe to the Namibian kwaito, with multiple of language use, the song became a huge hit. With its lay back beat, Sunny proved that kwaito is not only about singing and repeating words. He approached the song in a hip hop fashion with multiple catchy rhymes. The song was produced by DJ Kboz. Sunny called the style he used on "Balance" Hikwa which he describe as a fusion of hip hop and Kwaito. This style would later become popular among Namibian hip hop and kwaito artist.

Sunny Boy released his much anticipated debut album, Young, Black en Gifted, through Mshasho Productions, in December 2005. The album was very successful with hits songs such as "Balance", "Serious" and "Oshaikengaho". Around the same time, he was featured on The Dogg's Channel O Music Video Awards winning song "Baby Don't Go".[3] Production on the album was handled mainly by The Dogg, Elvo and DJ Kboz. Guest features includes The Dogg, Chipolopolo, Luvy, TeQuila and Kboz. The album was well received making it one of the best albums to be released under Mshasho Records. It was well crafted with lyrical structure which focus mostly on feel good and party themes. The song "Serious" is a motivational song. Videos were released for "Balance" and "Serious".

The song "Best of Both Worlds" performed by Faizel MC featuring The Dogg and Sunny Boy was added to the album as a bonus track.

His lyrical ability on the other hand placed him above all, and has influenced a lot of upcoming artists at the time, including Qonja among others. The two would later collaborate on "Fashion" from Qonja's Mdakadaka and "Yamkwanekamba" from Sunny's The Sleeping Giant.

In September 2006, Sunny Boy left Mshasho Records, and launched his own record label, GreenHouse Entertainment (now Yaziza Entertainment). After financial issues and disappointments from his former manager Isak Nyambali, Sunny felt it was better to establish his own record label and be his own boss. An agreement was reached between him and The Dogg to revise his contract. He established GreenHouse Entertainment in 2006 (renamed; Yaziza Entertainment in 2008) which brought into the industry more of his hikwa style.[4]

Upon its creation Sunny immediately started working on his second album, Elai Lineendunge. The album was released in December 2006 under GreenHouse Entertainment. The album is darker than his first, and feature more of his hikwa style music. It was approached with a different style from his last release. While Young, Black en Gifted focused more on feel good and party music, Elai Lineendunge focused more on story telling and wordplay. The album showcased Sunny Boy's lyrical ability distinguishing him from his colleagues in the industry.

The album feature guest appearance from The Dogg, OmPuff, Chipolopo, TeQuila, and Kamasutra. While production was handled by The Dogg, Elvo and Morgan.

The album holds the record of being the only, in Namibia to be nominated more than five times for seven categories at the 2007 Sanlam-NBC Music Awards. The Video of the album's most successful song "Summertime" was nominated for the 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards.[3]

Sunny Boy became the third Namibian kwaito artist to be nominated for a Channel-O award after The Dogg and Gazza.[3] He was nominated in August 2008 in the category of "best kwaito video" where he competed with South Africa's Kabelo, Arthur, Big Nuz and Namibia's The Dogg.

Sunny Boy released his third studio album, The Sleeping Giant in December 2008. The first single "Oseike Naave" was released in October, and debuted at number one on various local radio stations. The album features Production from Elvo, The Dogg, Kboz, and Morgan among others, and appearance by TeQuila, Jericho, Hedek, Qonja, Luvy, Chipolopolo and Tre Van Die Kasie. The album scooped hits such as "Touch Me Tease Me" which features Lady May and "Heat It Up" which won song of the year at the 2009 Sanlam-NBC Music Awards.

In 2009 Sunny Boy appeared on Chipolopolo's single "Mr. She-Me" a diss song responding to then-GMP signed group Streetskids and Gazza. In that year he appeared in The Windhoek Observer newspaper where he leaked information of his upcoming album. Though planned for release in 2009, the year went by without it seeing the light of day. In 2010 Sunny Boy stated that his and Chipolopolo's albums were coming out that year, but there was nothing released. In 2011 Sunny Boy changed managers from his sister Cathy Shipushu, who has been his managers since the establishment of Yaziza Entertainment, to Mercy Hoabes.[5] Under Mercy's management Sunny Boy embarked on tours and started working on his fourth studio album. He would later appear on two songs from The Dogg's album The Deception,[6] one of which features Brikz[7] from South Africa and the other he appeared with OmPuff and JK from Zambia.