The exploding career of Hanumankind
I sat down with India's most talked about rapper to discuss his roots in Kerala and Texas, the complexities of representing his country on the global stage and his new mixtape, Monsoon Season
Since his viral hit Big Dawgs last year, with its jaw-dropping video set in a ‘wheel of death’, Hanumankind has become one of the most talked-about rappers in the world.
Born in Kerala, raised in Houston, Texas, before returning to south India in his late-teens to rediscover his roots and launch a rap career, Sooraj Cherukat represents a new generation of Indian rappers who are able to achieve authenticity at home and abroad.
At the end of his European tour this summer, during his show at Village Underground, his first on UK soil, he tore his ACL, but still somehow persevered to the end, grimacing in pain.
A few days later, with his knee elevated on a coffee table at EMI’s King’s Cross offices, we sat down for a chat about his international upbringing, the complexities of representing India on the global hip-hop stage and his new mixtape, Monsoon Season.
Read my profile of Hanumankind, published in today’s Guardian, here.
