Within four years, Godwin Emmanuel Ifeanyi also known as Shugavybz, has emerged as one of Nigeria’s top songwriters and producers. Signed by Godboy under management of Godboy Empire, ShugaVybz wrote and produced several songs for Iyana including “Sinner”, “Woman”, and “One Side”; which dominated the airwave for months.
In addition, Shugavybz has written and produced hits for Wouter Kellerman, Majeeed, Mr. P, Jaywillz, Diamond Platnumz, Kcee, Godboy, Guchi, and Davido. His biggest hits include “Away” by Davido which became his breakthrough hit as a songwriter to debut in Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart and earned him a special recognition from The Recording Academy as a composer on the Grammy nominated Best Global music album ‘Timeless’ by Davido. From the album, “Away” earned over 24.3 million on-demand streams from Nigeria from March 2023 to November 2023, — according to TurnTable Magazine, and was certified Platinum by TCSN.
Shugavybz grew up in Lagos State at Ojodu-Berger, but hails from Ebonyi State and is the first child from the family of six. “Shugavybz was discovered and signed to Godboy Empire. . “Godboy is my brother and a successful songwriter, who gave me my first start at making records for household names in the music industry; — under the artist and label services for songwriters and producers protection. One of my first major projects was writing and producing cuts for Iyanya.”
It was in January 2023 that Shugavybz co-wrote “Away” with Pyrme, and Roger Lino, with Godboy giving A&R direction.
“Pyrme, and Roger Lino are two of my writing partners, and we got together to write a song specifically for Davido,” He said. “We worked around some subjects which Davido could potentially sing. We wanted to create a lyric theme surrounding 30BG, O.B.O, and something that keeps him strong, following the passing of his son. Critics would be looking in that direction or bloggers looking for a wound to pick on and broadcast a negative statement. Then Godboy came up with the lyric idea, which was inspired by Pyrme, Roger Lino, Godboy, and I — ShugaVybz”
The initial demo was produced by ShugaVybz. “I wanted to make a statement with that hook when I first produced the song before it was reproduced by Magicsticks. Since I hit the limelight with “One Side”, I have been focused on creating a special sound that people would react to and remember. And that is what we achieved with Davido’s “Away” in the Afrobeats field of amazing, fused sounds.”
With the success of Davido’s “Away”, 2024 should be another successful year for the Grammy songwriter Shugavybz, as he’s set to release “Tempa”, an upbeat track to serve as his first single of 2024. “My brother’s Xtofa produced “Tempa” with the help of Godboy giving A&R directions, and it’s to be released through Godboy Empire, around June 2024.” says ShugaVybz.