SunN.Y.

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Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

"I ain't chase rap, it was sent to me. On the strength that God gave a gift to me."

Three times is definitely the charm for BET's seven-time 106 & Park "Freestyle Fridays" champ, SunN.Y. The third time BET asked him to appear on 106 & Park - he was already Atlanta's Hot 107.9 freestyle champ - he accepted, and the third time he met star producer and Virgin Records President of Urban Music, Jermaine Dupri, he became the first artist JD signed to the label. Already popular with the 64 million viewers of "106 & Park," and Atlanta's four million radio listeners, it's only fitting that 22-year-old SunN.Y.'s Virgin Records debut is titled OVERNIGHT CELEBRITY. His first single "Introduction" is produced by the Track Boyz (J-Kwon) and its video co-features the Chad West-produced "Soul Of A Hustler."

Growing up in pint-sized Rochester, NY, SunN.Y., a.k.a. Daniel Smith, quickly stood out from the crowd. At seven, he was already freestyling. While the other kids got around by bike, he skateboarded. Yet, he still got in the same trouble as his peers, until he finally took the advice of his neighborhood friends, and decided to get off the corner and pursue his talent for rap. Though he credits Rochester with getting him sharp and keeping him fresh when it came to his sense of style, he always felt a grey cloud hovering above his head in the city, which had a worse per capita crime rate than New York City.

With the help of his family, SunN.Y. uprooted to Atlanta, where he began to politic with music producers and appear at every open mic in the city. In March 2004, one of his joints, "Long Time Coming," landed on Hot 107.9's "Hit or Diss" segment, and was instantly hailed a hit. Meanwhile, on the same radio station SunN.Y. had been winning the Coco Brothers "Freestyle Friday" competition since the Friday before Superbowl Weekend 2004. Just one year later, three days before Superbowl Weekend 2005, the ink would be dry on his record deal with Virgin, and what happened in between has made history.

"I made promise to God, if he took care of me when I went to Atlanta, I would do everything I could to make this happen," explains the down-to-earth rapper. "This whole thing is so spiritual to me. I'm a kid and my dream came true." With some of the industry's best stats on his resume -- he was featured on BET's first "Freestyle Friday" of 2005 and became the show's first champion of 2005 -- SunN.Y.'s future success is a no-brainer. "Jermaine told me to do what I want," the flavorful SunN.Y. relays (he is the product of an Indian-Black mother and Cuban-Jamaican father). "Because that's what the people want. I already have a fan base."

Powered by his influences - Beastie Boys, Nas, Jay-Z and Eazy E - SunN.Y. is confident he will continue to stand out. "I represent the battle rapper who can actually make songs," he assures. "I don't back down to nobody lyrically. Plus I got a beautiful track record of not losing."

Voted people's champ on both TV and radio by fans all across the U.S., it's the perfect time for SunN.Y. to put his winning words on wax. "If we ain't supposed to reach out and twist the world around, what is hip-hop? They didn't think hip-hop would last, and it's still here." And so is SunN.Y.