Hanumankind: Viral hit Big Dawgs hints at global potential of Indian hip-hop

Before his breakout single Big Dawgs topped global charts, Indian rapper Hanumankind realised he had finally made it during a show in his home state of Kerala earlier this year.

“It was some kind of festival, and there were about 5,000 people in the audience,” he tells The National ahead of his Sunday performance at Sole DXB. "That was the first time my mum actually realised what I do.

“I remember she was taking it all in, seeing the fans and then she understood. The funny thing is that she immediately switched and told me: ‘You now have a responsibility in this world, and you shouldn’t take it for granted.’ I remember thinking: ‘Hold on, not long ago you were telling me I was being irresponsible for considering a life in music.’”

It is one of the many misconceptions 32-year-old Hanumankind, real name Sooraj Cherukat, continues to break as part of the surging career led by his single, which has more than 170 million streams on YouTube since October and topped Spotify’s Global Top 50 charts.

Born in India to an oil executive father, he spent parts of his childhood living in Dubai, Nigeria and Egypt before spending nearly a decade of his formative years in Houston, Texas – a region known for southern hip-hop.

While his cosmopolitan experiences were evident as early as his 2019 EP Kalari, they merge brilliantly in Big Dawgs. It’s a hip-hop anthem from a South Indian artist inspired by American southern hip-hop. An official remix of the hit was also released this week featuring US rapper A$AP Rocky.

Laced with a marauding trap beat and gritty synths, Hanumankind lets loose with buoyant, ego-boosting verses rapped in English with a southern drawl – “Straight terror, product of your errors / Pushing culture, baby, got that product you can't measure” – delivered in the kind of energetic inflexion that recalls the works of celebrated southern hip-hop heroes like UGK and Ying Yang Twins.

That affectionate nod, however, stops when it comes to the striking music video. Director Bijoy Shetty matches the whirring intensity of the track by setting the video within the "well of death", a feature of Indian carnivals where more than a dozen automobiles speed around a velodrome built of wood. Featuring professional drivers and stuntmen, Hanumankind is shown rapping some of the lyrics while suspended from a car window.

“We wanted an intense and ferocious video, but you never really know how it will be received,” he says. “And to be honest, it took about a week after the video came out to realise that the song was being received in a way that was out of the norm. Before releasing it, we thought: ‘This is a cool music video, but we have better stuff in the vault.’ But the world felt differently.”

The success, he notes, reaffirmed a life lesson he plans to double down on as the demands of his career intensify.

“It really taught me about the importance of care and intention,” he notes. “It made me realise that while I may get caught up in the craft of what I do, I need to keep telling myself not to be distracted and to focus on how I can make what I’m doing even better.”

It is the kind of reflection that comes from an experienced artist. Despite the breakout success of Big Dawgs, which cracked the top 30 of the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as topping charts from Australia to Latvia, the song is actually Hanumankind’s 12th single released in five years. Its central message of overcoming adversity is also a theme first explored in his debut 2019 single Daily Dose.

“It is a personal subject to me and one that invigorates me and my thought process,” he says. “My approach to life is to keep going and take what belongs to you through actions and not words. We just can’t stand by and let forces around us compel us into living a certain way of life or being a particular way.”

Hanumankind’s remarks allude to the weary notion that Big Dawgs’ success could finally propel Indian hip-hop into becoming an international force. It also shows he has embraced the kind of responsibility his mother demanded of him backstage in Kerala.

“It’s not that simple because there are still barriers, whether it’s at home or outside of India, when it comes to hip-hop reaching that level,” he says. "I’m never one to say that if I did it, then anyone can.

“I would say perspectives have slightly shifted in terms of the great hip-hop music that is already there in India, and people are more receptive to cool music. But at the same time, we as artists need to work hard and take extra care with our craft.

"The music industry has no leniency, and people should never expect that things will be easier for them because another similar artist found success in a certain way. You need to keep grinding.”

Hanumankind will perform on Sunday at Sole DXB. The festival runs from Friday to Sunday at Dubai Design District. Day passes start at Dh295; doors open at 3pm