We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sunny Darko. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sunny below.
Sunny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
Well it’s more issues rather then unexpected problems. I was on a good path in my early twenties for the most part and at the time was trying to pursue getting signed with Tech Nine and Strange Music. That was the dream. At the time I was recording an album at Brotha Lynch’s studio here in Sacramento. See at this time I had toned down from partying for a while. Before that I was heavy in the rave scene and just parties in general. I had been partaking in drugs such as ecstasy, coke, psychedelics etc; At this time it was mostly still a recreational thing. So now a couple years later I’m chill, working, have a cool loft apartment with my girlfriend Meagan who I had been with for about 3 years at this time. So in other words my life is stable and quite calm compared to what it was. But eventually Meagan and I start having E parties at my loft on Fridays. Only a couple select friends would come through. Thought this will be fine just a weekend thing. As time goes on we go from E on Friday to coke on Saturday and eventually fall into a tangled web of meth and paranoia. I started calling into my job every Monday until I lost it.
After months of meth binges we lose the loft apartment. Following that Meagan started cheating on me with friends of mine I had for years. This became a sick cycle for a couple years. I would take her back, we would be fine stop using then comes another relapse and she would leave me every time after I hard binge. Like for example up for 5 days straight then she’d pull some weird shit. Say she’s going to a friends and really it would be a homie of mines house. The worst one was when her and I had just got into our 5th apartment. I’m working the third day of my new job. Her and my cousin/best friend my whole life were supposed to pick me up. I keep calling but no answer, only to find out later they ran off with each other.
That was the event that really messed me up.
So after that I would dive deeper into my addictions and lose myself in a rabbit hole for another couple years. The sickest part is I would end up taking Meagan back one last time after her and my cousin didn’t work out. Same old trip. We were fine for a while then comes a night we were at moms and everyone had been drinking. I wanted to go home everyone telling me no but I didn’t listen. Meagan and I are driving home and get in a fight while driving. She slams my head against the window and I’m a rage I said f*ck you and grabbed the wheel we spin out doing a 360 in the middle of Marconi avenue. It had been raining so the road is slick. Luckily it was late and no traffic. The fight continued. She hits the gas as I go for the wheel again we end up crashing head first into a tree going 60mph.
Wake up in the hospital. Head 3 sizes bigger then normal but I only suffered a spring ankle while she got a metal plate in her leg with 13 screws. We are both prescribed Norco 10’s. This crash is the start of my opioid addiction. After about a month I was taking 30 to 33 Norco a day. We would fight eventually she left for the final time. I get introduced to OxyContin, dabble in that a while until I’m met with black tar heroin. So started shooting heroin for years. Point to this story is a toxic relationship and hardcore substance abuse through my dream of music off track and put a major delay on my progress.
I would try the methadone clinics a few times and relapse. Finally got on buprenorphine back in 2011 and been sober ever since. I still partake in cannabis and psilocybin but nothing else. To stay sober I had to cut the world off for a while and get to know me again. Had to learn how to become my own best friend and I succeeded. Nowadays I’m so much stronger, so much more appreciative of life and take pride in being a voice for those still in the struggle of addiction. My music is in the best place it’s ever been in. Striving to get my music in front of the right audience and hopefully change some lives for the better. It’s all about learning from our battles, struggles and experiences then passing on the knowledge we obtain to those in need of it. For our experiences can then become medicine for someone else. I’m here to help minds evolve into a higher realm of consciousness as I have done for myself. To be a healer and an embodiment of love.
Sunny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a poet/lyricist/songwriter from Sacramento California. Been writing music since I was 17. Hiphop is my main genre but I also dabble in blues, grunge, indie pop and like to keep myself open as an artist. The last thing I ever want to be is boxed in. I take pride in being a multidimensional artist.
My goal is to share my deepest most personal feelings, thoughts and experiences in hopes to touch those who can relate. To give hope or help someone feel less alone. As a recovering addict I speak a lot about my battles with addiction and my triumph in getting clean. I enjoy being a voice for the broken, for the lost souls who are still wandering the infinite darkness. I’ve been through the deepest depths of hell and feel like I’ve been resurrected in a sense. I’ve been given a second shot at life and feel it’s my duty to speak my story, to be a light for those blinded by their vices or blinded by a world that wires you to be another robot. I want to help open people’s minds, to help them become more free to think for themselves more and become in tune with their higher selves.
I’ve fought my way through hardcore drug addiction, heavy betrayals of close friends and family, losing my father early to disease and then losing everything I had in a fire a year later. These are just a few examples to show you I’m a survivor. I want to be that beacon of hope for those who need it. To be the medicine.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think I’ve already answered this but like I’ve already mentioned. I’ve survived a fight with every drug in the book and I’ve cheated death a hundred times. I am still here still breathing with 12 years sobriety under my belt. Just passed 12 years September 2nd.
Through all the betrayals and hurt I’ve endured I’ve still maintained a tremendous amount of love in my heart. Even for those that have done me wrong I still wish them the best. For grudges only weigh down your spirit and I’m not for harboring any type of negative energy.
Watching my father deteriorate from congestive heart failure and kidney disease really killed me for a minute but rather then letting the pain consume me i embodied a strength I felt was passed down to me when he left the physical world. Losing my father helped me channel the next level of man I needed to become.
Then came the fire. Right when I thought I’d been through it all. Neighbors had a grease fire and it burned down their place another neighbor and ours. Had to sit across the street with the whole neighborhood and watch everything I owned go up in flames. The worst part no renters insurance. As sad and traumatic the experience i somehow was able to find a positive in the clean slate I was given. Almost like it became a mental and spiritual reset. Just like anything in life, I’ve learned it’s all in where you put your mind at. I could of dwelled in the loss and been ate up by all its negativity. But no I’ve learned to transform all my negative experiences into positive inspirations. Create beauty out of the chaos.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
As I’ve already mentioned my main goal or goals is to be a voice for those who need some guidance, direction. To be a light for those that can’t see the beauty that’s in front of them. I just want to shift people’s perceptions for the better, to transcend their consciousness to a higher state. For me it’s all about consistent evolution. If we’re not evolving what are we doing? Basically everything I’ve learned for myself, the tools I’ve obtained along the way that have helped me evolve into a better version of myself, I want to pass on these tools so my listeners can do the same.
And I can’t say for sure that what worked for me will work for you but it’s worth a try right? I don’t know it all by any means but I know I’ve been through a lot in life and have learned so many lessons. I know I carry valuable knowledge and that knowledge I like to sprinkle throughout my music. Little doses of medicine for the sick souls who are in need of some spiritual cleansing.
At the end of the day I want to help people believe in themselves and to know nothing is impossible. As cliche as it might sound i say you are everything you want to be, you just have to love yourself and put the work in. Over time you will discover exactly who you are and realize it’s all about perspective and putting things into action.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/sunnydarko?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=cca66191-0b9d-460e-bd38
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sunnydarko?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunnyDarkO13?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@SUNNYDARKOofficial?si=6dirlgHMyxeCN4E-