Latest news with #rap
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper
Two weeks ago, halfway through his first ever UK show, Hanumankind instructed the crowd to mimic him by hopping to the right then to the left, back and forth, in unison. But the rapper from India slipped and fell, limping to the end of the gig in evident pain, kept upright by his DJ and inspired by the audience's singalong familiarity with his catalogue. 'We were ready to have a good time,' he sheepishly grins from an armchair at his record label's offices three days later. It turns out he has torn a ligament. 'It was a battle of internal turmoil. The show was like a fifth of what it was meant to be, but I gave it my all. London has a beautiful energy which gave me strength.' Even without the leg injury, the 32-year-old star, who was born Sooraj Cherukat, has reached a testing threshold in his short, explosive career. His tracks Big Dawgs and Run It Up, helped by action-movie music videos, have made him one of the most talked-about MCs in the world. A$AP Rocky and Fred Again are among his recent collaborators. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi even invited Cherukat to perform at an event in New York last September. But as a rare south Asian face in globally popular rap, he feels a certain responsibility. 'The past year has been hard,' he says. 'I'm trying to navigate through it.' What's more, although he expresses a deep pride about life in India, 'a lot of things are off. There is a mob mentality. There's a lot of divisiveness because of religion, background, caste. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm in a unique space to change the way people can think within my country.' Born in Malappuram, Kerala, which he remembers as a 'green, beautiful environment', Cherukat spent his childhood following his father's work abroad, from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to Britain. 'We'd traverse different countries and I'd sing songs in whatever language I was picking up,' he says. 'Wherever I went, I had to get involved and be ready to leave. I learned to connect with people. That's why the power of the word is so important to me.' At the age of 10, he landed in Houston, Texas, and found a rare stability. It was the early 2000s and the city was an engine room for rap innovation. Cherukat's set his accent to a southern drawl. Already a fan of heavy metal – which makes sense given his grungy, rockstar leanings today – he became hooked on the local chopped-and-screwed subgenre pioneered by DJ Screw, Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat. In his teens he was 'burning CDs full of beats, riding around smoking blunts and hitting hard freestyles'. He returned to south India just before hitting 20. 'The only place I had roots,' he says. He completed a university degree in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, before working a corporate job in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Seeing rap as 'a party thing, a way to de-stress and stay connected to the art form', he performed at open-mic nights, softening his US accent and perfecting his stage show for an Indian audience. 'Friends would come to watch and be like, 'Dude, you're not bad. You should lock in.'' So he did. At the end of 2019, Cherukat played his first festival: NH7 Weekender in Pune, Maharashtra. The crowd went wild, quickly morphing from a small handful into a packed moshpit. 'They're rowdy and they're fucking vibing,' he says. 'I rip my shirt off. I'm like, 'OK, I can do this!'' He quit his job and began plotting his next move, filling notebooks with lyrics throughout the pandemic. These are a blend of cheek and grit delivered with a flow that keeps respawning at different speeds and scales. Soon, Cherukat was signed by Def Jam India. Part of a movement to reject the remnants of British colonialism in favour of local expression, the proud, rebellious patchwork of Indian hip-hop encompasses the vast country's 'hundreds of languages, each as deeply rooted as the next', Cherukat explains. 'Someone who speaks Hindi or another regional language will give you a vast amount of depth and detail in what they're doing.' His decision to rap mostly in English therefore came with risks of being perceived as inauthentic at home, but it has certainly helped his global crossover. Besides, he has found other ways to communicate a homegrown aesthetic. Run It Up marches to the beat of Keralan chenda drums, while its video features martial artists from disparate corners of India. Cherukat performed it with a band of drummers at Coachella festival, his debut US gig. 'Most people don't know what is going on in my country,' he says. 'Maybe I can open up some doors, open up some eyes, break out of these bubbles and stereotypes.' Although not religious, Cherukat has a divine figure woven into his performing name. Over recent years, Hanuman, the simian-headed Hindu god of strength and devotion, has been employed everywhere from the car stickers of hypermasculine Indian nationalism to the bloody, satirical critique of Dev Patel's 2024 thriller, Monkey Man. Where does Hanumankind fit into this: traditionalist or progressive? 'I need to make music for myself first,' he says simply. 'But when you have a platform, you can bring about change through your words and actions.' Some fans were disappointed that he accepted the New York invitation from Modi – whose Hindu nationalist government has been accused of democratic backsliding and Islamophobia. Cherukat has defended his appearance, describing it as 'nothing political … We were called to represent the nation and we did that.' But today he claims his 'political ideology is pretty clear' to anyone who has been following his career. In one of his earliest singles, 2020's Catharsis, he rails against systemic corruption, police brutality and armed suppression of protest. 'I'm not just trying to speak to people who already agree with me,' he says. 'I'm trying to give people who are otherwise not going to be listening a chance to be like, 'OK, there is some logic to what he's saying.'' Monsoon Season, his new mixtape, is just out. It features the mellow likes of Holiday – performed on the massively popular YouTube series Colors – as well as raucous collaborations with US rap luminaries Denzel Curry and Maxo Kream. It is less a narrative album, more a compilation, with songs gathered over the years before the spotlight shone on him. 'I have a lot of memories of coming into Kerala during the monsoon,' says Cherukat of the project's name. 'You can have days where things are absolutely reckless, flooded, out of control. There can be days where you get introspective and think about life. There are days where you love the rain: it feels good, there's that smell in the air when it hits the mud, the soil, the flowers. Your senses are heightened. You can fall in love with that. Or it can ruin all your plans and you hate it.' Cherukat's knee will take some time to recover before he embarks on a North American tour later this year. It's clear he needs a break: not just to heal, but to continue processing fame, adapt to its changes and return to the studio. 'I'm still adjusting,' he says. 'The attention, the conversation, the responsibility, the lifestyle, all this shit. Things have been a little haywire. So I just want to go back to the source – and make music.' Monsoon Season is out now on Capitol Records/Def Jam India
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Lewis Capaldi reveals bizarre way he gets himself to sleep at night
Lewis Capaldi has revealed the novel way he sends himself off to sleep – by listening to Eminem. Speaking to Apple Music to launch their new curated playlist series, Music That Soothes Me, the Scottish singer said he opts for old school rap. 12 Lew explained: 'If I'm going to fall asleep, especially on a plane, I put on Eminem because I feel like it really puts me at ease. 'I listen to a lot of the older stuff like The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show – for some reason it lulls me into a delightful little sleep. 'Or I'll put on some of my own demos which also really knock me out.' Time's up, Mariah 12 From fish sperm facials to tummy tucks, celebrities will try all sorts in the pursuit of looking young. But Mariah Carey has a novel anti-ageing technique – refusing to acknowledge that time even exists. The diva, who has previously said she doesn't celebrate her birthday and instead refers to it as her 'anniversary', said of ageing: 'I don't know time. "I don't know numbers. I do not acknowledge time – I have a new song that starts with that line…' That may well be the case, but given she is now 56 – even though she may claim otherwise – I'm sure there must be something else going on because she looks half that age. The superstar will headline Brighton Pride on Saturday and is gearing up to release Here For It All, her first album since 2018, in September. And she is fully leaning into her diva persona. Speaking about embracing her reputation in an interview in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar UK on sale from July 31, she said: 'It's part of my job. Lewis Capaldi reveals he reached 20st & is on anti-psychotic medication after Glastonbury breakdown 'What's the point of a disguise? Just get up, get dressed, go out. If I don't want to be seen, I'll stay home.' Never change, Mimi. Pete Davidson made his first appearance with girlfriend Elsie Hewitt since she announced her pregnancy. The happy couple posed at the premiere of his new movie The Pickup in Los Angeles on Sunday. The comedian, who has famously dated a string of glamorous women including Kate Beckinsale, only went official with the actress in March. But he's over the moon about becoming a dad – having lost his own father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks when he was just seven. He said: 'I'm very lucky and very, very happy. Just being able to take care of something and show it the childhood I didn't have. "I assume you just try to give them what you didn't have, and what you didn't like, not do it.' Kylie's got some check Kylie Jenner splashed the cash on this Miu Miu houndstooth dress, forking out £1,606 on the outfit for her nan MJ's 91st birthday. The reality TV star turned beauty empire tycoon flew back from St Tropez, France to Los Angeles for the party at The Ivy with her half sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian. Kylie was spotted hanging out at the cool Shellona Beach Club at the swanky French Riviera resort, earlier this month with her boyfriend Timothée Chalamet. Rita Ora was also spotted partying there a week later. I had a quick check of the prices and with a £500 minimum spend to go there, I don't think I'll be joining them any time soon… Leona's Vegas nights Next year will mark two decades since Leona Lewis won X Factor and the celebrations have started early, as she has landed her first Las Vegas residency. The Bleeding Love singer will headline Voltaire at The Venetian – the venue that opened in 2023 when Kylie Minogue had her own debut residency there. The show, called A Starry Night, is billed as a Christmas spectacular and will run for 33 dates from November 1 to January 3. Announcing it on Instagram, Leona, inset, who received an OBE this month for her services to music, wrote: 'A dream, years in the making. Coming to life in Vegas this November! "I am so excited to officially announce my residency at Voltaire at @venetianvegas. 'Can't wait to share this new chapter with you. Tickets on sale August 1. Meet me under the stars, Leona x.' Sophie's a Marvel 12 12 12 Sophie Ellis-Bextor looked like she had an electrifying time at the Formula E championship season finale. The Murder On The Dancefloor singer performed at the Marvel Fantastic Four London ePrix – and got to zoom around the track in an electric car. Sophie strapped on a helmet and got stuck into the action at the ExCel, being whizzed about by an experienced driver. Former Love Island stars Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Luca Bish also got to experience the thrill when they attended on Saturday. A host of celebs were spotted enjoying the racing over the weekend, with DJ Sigala and The Vamps singer Bradley Simpson also there. Former Top Gear host Richard Hammond watched on with daughter Izzy. I'm sure he would approve of the brilliant driving. We have still got Abba to thank for the music this August, as the sell-out London attraction has lined up some new DJ sets for their Abba Voyage shows. Over the next month, DJs will appear before every Friday and Saturday show at no extra cost, allowing fans to make a full day of the event. KC Leigh, Sassy B, Laya Masetty and Izzy Trixx will be on rotation across the upcoming days over 90 minutes before the main show starts. If you want to Take A Chance On going, tickets are available at Jade: I'm always afraid When she smashes every performance, it's hard to imagine Jade isn't oozing confidence. But the Angel Of My Dreams singer admits she finds it so terrifying she has even had hypnotism in a bid to calm her nerves. On Friday the former Little Mix star did a show with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, available on BBC Sounds, and reflected on how she copes. She wrote on Instagram: 'I have terrible stage nerves before every show – ever since I was a little girl, and over the years that would get the better of me, be it running off stage crying, to 'freezing' or my voice going. 'I've tried hypnotherapy, other therapies and have my little coping mechanisms.' Jade, who plays All Points East in London next month, added: 'But I'm immensely proud that whenever my fight or flight kicks in I overcome that inner saboteur and imposter syndrome.' Flo Rida is returning to the UK for his first headline show here since 2009. The US rapper, who has five UK No1s including Club Can't Handle Me and Good Feeling, will play the OVO Arena Wembley in London on October 14, with tickets on sale this Friday at 10am. Sigrid gets the Ed-s up Sigrid got a lift from Ed Sheeran when he invited her to play in her hometown of Oslo. The singer, who recently returned with new single Jellyfish, had just finished her slot at Latitude Festival in Suffolk when she flew back to Norway to join Ed. The pair performed her breakout hit Don't Kill My Vibe to 25,000 fans and Ed, right, shared snaps from their performance on Instagram. Ed said: 'So fun rocking Oslo tonight with Sigrid – hometown hero. She's one of the coolest. 'Really appreciate her flying over for this show. [It] felt only right to have her come and sing this for everyone. 'I've loved her music for years but now I know she's as cool as I thought she was, if not cooler.' S Club singer Hannah Spearritt was reaching for a plane ticket, not the stars, when she quit Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins on the first day. The pop star will be seen walking off the show after only a few hours in the Costa Rican jungle, when it airs in October. Fellow contestant Patsy Kensit was forced to quit when medics realised she'd broken her shoulder training for the show. I hope the rest are made of sterner stuff, or else those Channel 4 bigwigs are going to have a pretty lean series on their hands.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Here's How Ice Cube Reacted to Selena Gomez Calling Him Her Childhood Crush
Ice Cube has reacted to Selena Gomez naming him as her childhood celebrity crush, and the N.W.A. rap legend claims he's heard about this before from the Disney alum. Reporter Chris Haynes brought up the story about Selena calling Cube her childhood crush during a recent episode of the BIG3 podcast, and the rapper-actor was shocked that Haynes and cohosts such as former NBA players Nick Young and Michael Beasley were surprised. More from Billboard Dierks Bentley Makes Tour Opener Zach Top Take Part in an Icy Challenge on the Road & He 'Took It Like a Champ' Billie Eilish Condemns Israel Defense Minister's Plan to Forcibly Relocate Palestinians: 'Horrifying' Temple University Unveils New Course Studying Kendrick Lamar & His Cultural Impact 'N—a, why you surprised, though? S—t. A lot of 'em' like me, homie. I heard this years ago,' Cube said, which drew a laugh from his cohosts. Ice Cube then revealed that one of his childhood celebrity crushes was Vanity 6 lead singer, Vanity. 'Look, I had my crushes growing up, too. Vanity, bring her in here and see what happens,' he said. 'I had about four [childhood crushes].' Formed as the protégées of Prince, Vanity 6 is best known for the girl group's 1982 hit 'Nasty Girl,' which topped the discontinued Dance Club Songs chart. In June, Selena Gomez joined Complex for an episode of GOAT Talk with Karol G, which saw her admit to Ice Cube being her first celebrity crush when she was about 5 years old. 'Can I tell you my first one, I had a crush on, Ice Cube?' the multi-hyphenate told Karol G. 'I had the biggest crush on him when I was, like, 5. It's so weird, but I just thought he would protect me. I'm only saying it simply based on my childhood.' Watch Ice Cube's reaction below. Talk about Selena Gomex begins around the 31-minute mark. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
My daughter inspired me to launch a baby skincare brand
Casyo Johnson remembers his first lesson in business, aged 13, at his school in south London. Stanley Technical High School, as it was known then, didn't have an activities room to occupy the pupils during breaks. It also didn't have any money. So Johnson, now better known as Krept from the rap duo Krept and Konan, offered to raise the cash himself. He signed up his fellow pupils to give him 20p a day. 'I had a table with names, payment dates,' he recalls of the tight operation. After three weeks he handed over enough cash to pay for the facility. 'They took the money and didn't do anything,' he says. It was a tough lesson for a 13-year-old and it understandably still rankles. Instead of ping-pong, Johnson focused on surviving the gang violence around him and on his music, teaming up with his school friend Karl Wilson, alias Konan, in 2008. Their breakthrough came in 2013 when their independently produced album Young Kingz took off. It holds a Guinness record as the highest-charting UK album by an unsigned act. Johnson, now 35 and a father of one, still performs regularly. Krept and Konan launched a new album, Young Kingz II, in February this year and the pair are playing at summer festivals across Europe. He has also been able to put the business lessons from that early experience in school to good use. In 2020, during the Covid lockdowns, Johnson and his partner at the time, Sasha Ellese Gilbert, developed a natural skincare product for their baby daughter Nala. Gilbert, in particular, bridled at the toxicity of some of the common ingredients in mainstream toiletries. She used ingredient rating apps such as Think Dirty and Yuka and did not like what she found. 'When you scan these products you see how clean they are,' Johnson says. They couldn't find any brand with a full range of excellent ratings. 'It was a lightbulb moment. We thought, 'Why don't we do it?'' Johnson discovered a world of natural alternatives and the pair created recipes that they took to a manufacturer with a lab where they could be developed and tested properly. • Meet the UK's fastest-growing companies in 2025 The next step was to decide on pricing. Johnson wanted to position the range at the affordable end of the market so he sought out retailers to be a launch partner, starting with Boots. Such a big brand would also help reassure customers, typically young mothers. After all, what does a musician from south London know about producing safe toiletries for babies? Helped by his high profile, as well as his commitment to the project, a deal was struck and the brand, Nala's Baby, was launched in June 2022. Roll forward three years and Nala's Baby is a profitable £5.5 million turnover business, stocked in supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, as well as over 1,000 Boots stores. It is also sold on Amazon and through its own website. As Krept, Johnson has just returned from playing at the Wireless festival and is off to another in Paris after we talk. In Nala's Baby, he sees a venture that can provide a legacy for his daughter in the way that music cannot. 'In music, I know that I have to be the one writing music, going on tour. But what would I be able to pass down to my daughter? In music, you have to be the entertainer at all times. It is not something you can let stand on its own two feet without you being there. So long term, I always knew I wanted to get into business.' Johnson and Wilson had tried opening a bar and restaurant in Croydon first, called Crepes & Cones, but it closed as the first Covid lockdown hit. While eating out can be taken away, people will always have babies and babies will need cleaning, he reasoned. 'You always need to wash, regardless of what happens.' Getting Nala's Baby off the ground was not easy and Johnson credits the consultant Shaz Saleem for supporting the initial phase. 'We were winging it,' he admits. Johnson has a degree in accounting and finance so could cope with the numbers, but those numbers got quite big, quite quickly. It took 18 months to develop the first eight products and the co-founders wanted to launch with an eye-catching roster of 'approved by' credentials, ranging from its efficacy on the skin to being safe for babies and suitable for vegans. The tests themselves were eye-wateringly expensive. 'I wanted to tick every single box,' Johnson says. Before long they had invested £250,000. This was enough to give them their break with Boots, but now Johnson needed more cash to begin production. The cost of the indicative orders from Boots and minimum production levels required from the manufacturer were sobering. So Johnson pitched to friends and family, including Konan and the likes of Anthony Joshua, the former heavyweight world champion. They backed him and he sold a stake, raising £1.5 million. 'There is a lot of pressure because you are taking money from people you know to invest in your dream,' he says. 'But I genuinely thought it was going to work.' Some friends were not 100 per cent convinced, though. 'Some did say this is a bit risky, man. You are going into baby skincare. This is crazy.' He admits he didn't see the baby skincare entrepreneur in him before it happened. 'I never, never saw it coming, for me to be doing this. But my life went down that road when I had a daughter. It was never planned but it felt right at the time. I became a father and so I understood the need for [Nala's Baby] even more, just being a dad, saying 'I would want this for my daughter'.' Knowing he had six months before the launch in Boots, Johnson plotted out what he would do each day to build awareness on his social media: he has more than 690,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. The effort worked. 'I wanted it to be a frenzy and that is literally what happened,' he recalls. Nala's Baby sold out online within ten minutes and many of the 400 Boots stores saw their shelves cleared. Some products started popping up on eBay, being offered at well above the retail price. Feedback from customers with skin issues was positive and by 2023 it won the Mother & Baby best baby skincare range award, as voted for by parents, beating the previous winner and market leader Childs Farm. 'It was a key moment for us,' Johnson recalls, as there were supermarket buyers in the room. Boots took its new range, called Vanilla Cloud, to more than 1,000 stores and the supermarkets followed. Nala's Baby now claims to have an 8 per cent share of the market. As the business became a more serious business venture, Johnson also used his contacts for advice, including his friend Franklin Asante, who is head of entrepreneurs at the private bank Coutts. Asante sat Johnson next to Saeb Eigner, former chairman of the Dubai Financial Services Authority, at a dinner. The two chatted and after Johnson had completed some homework to prove he was serious, Eigner introduced him to Gordon McCallum, the former chief executive of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. He in turn introduced Johnson to Anna James, a former marketing director at Mothercare and Carphone Warehouse, who became Nala's chief operating officer. James recommended someone she had worked with, Ben Newnum, who joined as Nala's managing director in July 2023. 'He lives, eats and breathes Nala's Baby,' says Johnson, full of admiration for Newnum's attitude and work ethic. The 'introducers' have all invested in Nala's Baby, sensing a good thing. The business is now a team of eight, soon to be ten, all working out of a small office on the fourth floor of a building next to Paddington station in London. The location suits the team more than Johnson, who lives in Essex and has a 90-minute commute. Next up is the launch of a natural multi-purpose sanitiser 'that is effective as bleach but is not harmful'. Then next year is international expansion, either in Europe or the US. 'I do want it to be a global brand,' Johnson says. 'We are gearing up for 2026 to go international.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper
Two weeks ago, halfway through his first ever UK show, Hanumankind instructed the crowd to mimic him by hopping to the right then to the left, back and forth, in unison. But the rapper from India slipped and fell, limping to the end of the gig in evident pain, kept upright by his DJ and inspired by the audience's singalong familiarity with his catalogue. 'We were ready to have a good time,' he sheepishly grins from an armchair at his record label's offices three days later. It turns out he has torn a ligament. 'It was a battle of internal turmoil. The show was like a fifth of what it was meant to be, but I gave it my all. London has a beautiful energy which gave me strength.' Even without the leg injury, the 32-year-old star, who was born Sooraj Cherukat, has reached a testing threshold in his short, explosive career. His tracks Big Dawgs and Run It Up, helped by action-movie music videos, have made him one of the most talked-about MCs in the world. A$AP Rocky and Fred Again are among his recent collaborators. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi even invited Cherukat to perform at an event in New York last September. But as a rare south Asian face in globally popular rap, he feels a certain responsibility. 'The past year has been hard,' he says. 'I'm trying to navigate through it.' What's more, although he expresses a deep pride about life in India, 'a lot of things are off. There is a mob mentality. There's a lot of divisiveness because of religion, background, caste. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm in a unique space to change the way people can think within my country.' Born in Malappuram, Kerala, which he remembers as a 'green, beautiful environment', Cherukat spent his childhood following his father's work abroad, from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to Britain. 'We'd traverse different countries and I'd sing songs in whatever language I was picking up,' he says. 'Wherever I went, I had to get involved and be ready to leave. I learned to connect with people. That's why the power of the word is so important to me.' At the age of 10, he landed in Houston, Texas, and found a rare stability. It was the early 2000s and the city was an engine room for rap innovation. Cherukat's set his accent to a southern drawl. Already a fan of heavy metal – which makes sense given his grungy, rockstar leanings today – he became hooked on the local chopped-and-screwed subgenre pioneered by DJ Screw, Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat. In his teens he was 'burning CDs full of beats, riding around smoking blunts and hitting hard freestyles'. He returned to south India just before hitting 20. 'The only place I had roots,' he says. He completed a university degree in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, before working a corporate job in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Seeing rap as 'a party thing, a way to de-stress and stay connected to the art form', he performed at open-mic nights, softening his US accent and perfecting his stage show for an Indian audience. 'Friends would come to watch and be like, 'Dude, you're not bad. You should lock in.'' So he did. At the end of 2019, Cherukat played his first festival: NH7 Weekender in Pune, Maharashtra. The crowd went wild, quickly morphing from a small handful into a packed moshpit. 'They're rowdy and they're fucking vibing,' he says. 'I rip my shirt off. I'm like, 'OK, I can do this!'' He quit his job and began plotting his next move, filling notebooks with lyrics throughout the pandemic. These are a blend of cheek and grit delivered with a flow that keeps respawning at different speeds and scales. Soon, Cherukat was signed by Def Jam India. Part of a movement to reject the remnants of British colonialism in favour of local expression, the proud, rebellious patchwork of Indian hip-hop encompasses the vast country's 'hundreds of languages, each as deeply rooted as the next', Cherukat explains. 'Someone who speaks Hindi or another regional language will give you a vast amount of depth and detail in what they're doing.' His decision to rap mostly in English therefore came with risks of being perceived as inauthentic at home, but it has certainly helped his global crossover. Besides, he has found other ways to communicate a homegrown aesthetic. Run It Up marches to the beat of Keralan chenda drums, while its video features martial artists from disparate corners of India. Cherukat performed it with a band of drummers at Coachella festival, his debut US gig. 'Most people don't know what is going on in my country,' he says. 'Maybe I can open up some doors, open up some eyes, break out of these bubbles and stereotypes.' Although not religious, Cherukat has a divine figure woven into his performing name. Over recent years, Hanuman, the simian-headed Hindu god of strength and devotion, has been employed everywhere from the car stickers of hypermasculine Indian nationalism to the bloody, satirical critique of Dev Patel's 2024 thriller, Monkey Man. Where does Hanumankind fit into this: traditionalist or progressive? 'I need to make music for myself first,' he says simply. 'But when you have a platform, you can bring about change through your words and actions.' Some fans were disappointed that he accepted the New York invitation from Modi – whose Hindu nationalist government has been accused of democratic backsliding and Islamophobia. Cherukat has defended his appearance, describing it as 'nothing political … We were called to represent the nation and we did that.' But today he claims his 'political ideology is pretty clear' to anyone who has been following his career. In one of his earliest singles, 2020's Catharsis, he rails against systemic corruption, police brutality and armed suppression of protest. 'I'm not just trying to speak to people who already agree with me,' he says. 'I'm trying to give people who are otherwise not going to be listening a chance to be like, 'OK, there is some logic to what he's saying.'' Monsoon Season, his new mixtape, is just out. It features the mellow likes of Holiday – performed on the massively popular YouTube series Colors – as well as raucous collaborations with US rap luminaries Denzel Curry and Maxo Kream. It is less a narrative album, more a compilation, with songs gathered over the years before the spotlight shone on him. 'I have a lot of memories of coming into Kerala during the monsoon,' says Cherukat of the project's name. 'You can have days where things are absolutely reckless, flooded, out of control. There can be days where you get introspective and think about life. There are days where you love the rain: it feels good, there's that smell in the air when it hits the mud, the soil, the flowers. Your senses are heightened. You can fall in love with that. Or it can ruin all your plans and you hate it.' Cherukat's knee will take some time to recover before he embarks on a North American tour later this year. It's clear he needs a break: not just to heal, but to continue processing fame, adapt to its changes and return to the studio. 'I'm still adjusting,' he says. 'The attention, the conversation, the responsibility, the lifestyle, all this shit. Things have been a little haywire. So I just want to go back to the source – and make music.' Monsoon Season is out now on Capitol Records/Def Jam India
