Artist Case study: SUNSUN
SunSun Official, is a versatile rapper and singer/songwriter from Leicester, who creates a range of music from Hip-Hop, UK rap, Dancehall and Afrobeat.
He was introduced to music by his mother at the young age of 5, when he took up the drum kit and joined the local steel drums band, ‘Contrast steel band’.
But it wasn’t until 2016 when SunSun began his professional music career. He burst onto the Leicester scene with fresh music featuring collaborations from other local artists such as ‘Livin’ ft Syllable & A.V. and ‘Waste my time’ ft Harri Georgio. These songs included music videos which were showcased on GRM Daily & Mixtape Madness.
Having received national radio play by BBC’s DJ Target, Sir David Rodigan & former Rinse FM presenter Morgan Keys, SunSun was successfully getting his music presented on UK airwaves. As well as this, he was actively performing and even receiving bookings to perform around Europe.
Unfortunately for a few years, SunSun had to take a hiatus from music to care for his mother who was facing Mental Health issues.
Despite this setback, he wanted to return to his music career and was motivated by his friend and fellow rap artist Strizzy Strauss to apply for And Still I Rise, and in 2023 he was successfully accepted on the line-up.
“And Still I Rise holds a great significance for me as it focuses on empowering the community of Black British musicians across the Midlands. Giving them the opportunity to broadcast their voices and to continues to build on what was worked on during the projects”.
He appreciates the amazing opportunity of being part of And Still I Rise and his favourite experiences were networking with such a talented line-up of like-minded musicians, and facilitating connections across the Midlands music scene.
“And Still I Rise definitely helped me a lot. Honestly, being a carer takes a lot of energy out of me so it was getting harder to find the time to actually work on music and after a while I started to doubt myself. And Still I Rise was almost a life saver for me”.
At a low point in his life, our project gave SunSun the opportunity to do something that he deeply loves and remind him that music is still an attainable path in his life.
Moving forward, SunSun plans to expand his fanbase through music videos, collaborations and attending more music industry seminars and conferences. Other goals include securing more radio play, and increasing his output of content so he can grow his career to the heights he imagines for himself.
Through resilience, faith and hard work, SunSun truly believes this is only the start of a beautiful journey.
To keep up to date with SunSun’s music journey, check him out on Instagram @sunsun0fficial and Sun Sun on Facebook.
