[Source: BBC NEWS]

Millions of streams, worldwide chart success and a Coachella performance on the horizon.

When rapper Hanumankind reflects on the past year and what’s to come, he feels “grateful and blessed“.

His new song Run It Up has just topped the Official Asian Music Chart for a third consecutive week, following his first global smash Big Dawgs, which overtook Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us at one point on Spotify’s Top 50.

“We never would have thought that these kind of days would happen. And now we’re in it,” he tells BBC Asian Network’s Nayha Ahmad.

The journey has been nothing short of “a rollercoaster ride“, he says.

Born in India, the 33-year-old – real name Sooraj Cherukat – spent much of his time growing up around the world, including living in France, Nigeria, Egypt, Dubai, the UK and US.

After studying for a business degree and working in the corporate world, he eventually decided it wasn’t for him and his passion was elsewhere – Music.

Unlike in the business world, Hanumankind says there is nobody but himself to hold him accountable.

“It’s not like all of a sudden now that you’re making music things get easier.

“What I’m doing right now is truly the toughest thing I’ve ever done because you have to be way more present with yourself.

“There’s no blueprint. You have to deal with the confines of freedom,” he says.

That freedom, though, is what he brings into his music.

His tunes are in English, but he wants to maintain the global appeal for South Asians and stay true to his roots.

“It just happens. I just try and make it as I feel.

“I just try and make sure that there’s no real boundary,” he says.

For Run It Up, his music video brings together the different cultures of India – where he returned in 2021.

He describes it as “100% a conscious decision“.

“I think this song in particular was specifically for this in terms of sound and message.

“It’s the most we’ve ever pushed in the direction of our culture. Things that are specifically rooted in the land and my perspective of it.”

But he adds this is just one perspective of “a side of the world where there is so much more to it“.

The creation of the song and video was “wild in an extremely chaotic way“, he says.

“I think it’s very important for us to express ourselves because we come from the chaos.

“We strive to create in the chaos,” he says, adding the process helps him “have fun“.

“It’s a work in progress. It’s continuous and I’m learning as I go.”

One of those he has learned from is rapper A$AP Rocky, with the pair collaborating on a remix version of Big Dawgs.

“The [original] song was popping off,” he says, with the track currently sitting on over 400 million streams on Spotify and 219 million views on YouTube.

“It was a crazy time for all of us. And people were reaching out in regards to doing features.”

Then came the call from Rocky.

“He creatively is someone that I admire. I think he’s a visionary and he’s been doing incredible work for years and years.

“And the rest is history,” he says.

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