Sunny Boy

Sunday Shipushu (born 13 March 1983), known as Sunny Boy is a Namibian rapper from Ongwediva.

He performs a brand of music known as hikwa, which he engineered by fusing hip hop and Kwaito.

He rose to fame after collaborating with Gazza on his song "Koko" in 2004.

He increased his buzz with his hit single "Balance" in 2005 when he signed with Mshasho Productions.

He is known for his socially conscious lyrics, story telling abilities and a complex flow.

He has to date released seven albums from which he gained critical acclaim as a lyricist.

Sunny runs his own record label Yaziza Entertainment.

He is the former Ambassador of the Namibia Red Cross Society's for the youth.

Sunny Boy was born, Pendukeni Andreas Sunday Shipushu, in Oshakati, a town in northern Namibia, and grew up in its neighbour Ongwediva.

Since he was a small boy, he has always wanted to make music that touches people's hearts.

He used to sing and dance at school concerts.

While at primary school, he and three other friends formed a dancing group called The Converse Boys, and with their Kwaito inspired moves, they entertained fellow students at social events.

Even then, they dreamed of one day making it big in the music industry.

However that dream was cut short by the untimely death of one of their group members.

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.

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".

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.