For years, Jameson Botwinski saw Grand Rapids the way too many young people do: as a place to leave.
Growing up on the southeast side of the city, the artist now better known as Sonny Ski wasn’t always eager to wave the flag for his hometown. Like many of his generation, he remembers looking around and feeling like there was nothing special about GR—until he left and finally realized exactly what made it unique.
Now, after years of grinding, writing, recording and representing the city from stages across Michigan and beyond, Sonny Ski has become one of Grand Rapids’ loudest musical advocates.
His song “Grand Rapids, MI”—featuring Gwopped Up $peedy and Ja’Leeyna—has grown into a rallying cry for a city searching for its own anthem.
“I always wanted to make a song for the city,” Botwinski said. “I just wanted to give people something to be proud of about the city.”
Before he was writing hometown anthems, award-winning albums and songs about the working-class grind, Sonny Ski was just a kid experimenting with music in his dad’s basement studio. That early spark stayed with him, though becoming a rapper wasn’t always part of the plan.
In high school, he was known more for the culture surrounding rap battles than for actually winning them. He would trade bars with classmates in lunchrooms, outside school and even at the nearby Burger King.
“I was trash,” he said with a laugh. “I would always lose the battles. I might win a couple.”
But that competitive spirit has remained one of the driving forces behind Sonny Ski’s career. Behind the confident performances and hometown pride is an artist who has spent much of his life proving people wrong, including himself.
“I always had a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “Just as a kid, things like that. I was short, skinny, I got this disease called Ollier’s, so I had tumors and stuff. Doctors going through, they say, ‘Hey, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.’”
Those experiences shaped the mindset he brings into music today.
“Basically my whole life was just telling me what I couldn’t do,” he said. “I still have that chip on my shoulder where I’m never comfortable with my craft. It’s always like, ‘Nah,’ I got to prove something to myself because I know I can do better.”
That mentality followed him when he briefly attended Wayne State University in Detroit, a move that completely changed how he viewed his hometown.
“Detroit people embrace their own,” he said. “There was camaraderie. There was culture there. ... It inspired me to really claim Grand Rapids.”
That realization eventually became the foundation for “Grand Rapids, MI.”
The idea started forming around 2017, but Botwinski knew he wasn’t ready yet. Instead, he continued sharpening his songwriting, building his catalog and developing his voice until he could create the song he imagined.
The track slowly built momentum before exploding after Botwinski posted a short clip of the music video online.
“I had nothing to post that day, no content,” he said. “So I was like, all right, I’ll just repost a clip in the music video. It just shot up.”
From there, the song spread throughout the region, eventually leading to major hometown moments, including performances at Van Andel Arena and other large-scale events.
“For people to finally come around full circle, whether people loved it or hated it, the city knows the song,” Botwinski said. “The song is doing exactly what I thought it would do now.”
The most unique part of Sonny Ski’s story, though, is that his rise has happened while maintaining a completely different career. Outside of music, Botwinski works as a CDL driver, a role he has embraced through his alter ego, CDL Sonny.
“We’re doing this interview while I’m on the clock,” he said, talking with Revue over the phone while driving. “I just find a way to make it work for me.”
Rather than hide the fact that he still works a regular job, Botwinski sees it as part of his message.
“I don’t want to hide any part of this journey and make it seem like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m this big rapper,’” he said. “I’m still working a regular job. I just really want that to inspire people.”
Along the way, Sonny Ski has earned recognition throughout West Michigan, including honors from the Grand Rapids Hip Hop Awards, the Jammies and ArtPrize through his involvement with The Trauma Project.
Now, with new projects on the horizon—including his long-awaited album The Workin’ Man: Fruits From Labor—Sonny Ski is still chasing that same feeling that first pushed him to write on that bus ride home.
“That’s going to be the one,” he said of the upcoming album. “That’s going to be when everybody’s like, ‘Yo, who’s Sonny Ski?’”
Follow him on Instagram @sonnyski616.
