Meet Hanumankind, the Indian rapper from Kerala, who has put desi hip-hop on the global map with Big Dawgs

Sooraj Cherukat aka Hanumankind, the Kerala-based rapper is currently grabbing the eyeballs across the globe for his high-octane hip-hop track titled Big Dawgs. The track, which has been shot in the wall of death, has crossed 19 million views on YouTube.

Have posted recently about astonishingly talented young women of Indian origin making waves in indigenous American music genres.

Now here’s Sooraj Cherukat, @Hanumankind1 @hanumankind (Insta) who’s rapping his way to global recognition.

Rap may not be for everyone, but this… pic.twitter.com/4udUHqSjHK

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 28, 2024

Who is Hanumankind?

The Bangalore-based rapper was born in Kerala. In his younger days, Sooraj lived in Texas and made his debut with EP Kalari. He released the collaborative project Surface Level with Kalmi.

Big Dawgs

The music video of Big Dawgs has been directed by his frequent collaborator, Bijoy Shetty, and it was written, composed, and performed by Hanumankind. It is produced by Brown Crew Productions.

For the unversed, the track was shot in the coastal district of Ponnani — also known as the Mecca of Kerala.

Talking about why he chose this location, Hanumankind told Rolling Stone, “A lot of things are happening in this video. But mainly, if you want something, take that risk, man, or else it won’t happen. Even if you fail, it’s still the act of doing. For me, even if this video didn’t work out, I get to tell my grandchildren that I actually sat inside the well of death and did this. At the very least, if nothing worked out, I’m happy about that.”

Opening up about the overwhelming response, he said, “Look, we knew the song was going to do well, but we did not know it was going to be like this. That has been surprising for sure.”