The Indian rap phenom delivers on years of hype, balancing uncooked ability with global stage presence to create a career-making mixtape.
Some come knocking. Hanumankind took the damn door off the hinges.
When Big Dawgs dropped in July 2024, it didn’t merely disrupt India’s underground; it ignited a fuse that travelled to the international arena. One moment, he was freestyling in Bengaluru basements and studio lofts. Next? He was on Fortnite, in Arsenal FC commercials, on Coachella stages, and in your TikTok and Instagram feed screaming bars over wailing nadaswarams like it was wartime. No cosigns. No language changes. No compromises.
Now, with Monsoon Season, Hanumankind doesn’t merely surf the wave; he is the storm.
The Monsoon Season Journey
The Pressure Builds
Some storms strike suddenly. Others brew for years.
Hanumankind AKA Sooraj Cherukat’s Monsoon Season isn’t merely a coming-out mixtape, it’s the tsunami that overtops the levee. Before international shows, Billboard records, and shoe-brand sponsors, there was an MC from Bengaluru, half adrenaline, half self-reflection; spitting bars and attempting to cut through a scene still finding its footing with English-language rap.
In 2019, he released Kalari, a raw EP that balanced South Indian street attitude with Houston heat. Singles like “Southside” foreshadowed his intensity, but India’s hip-hop sphere was still orbiting Hindi bars, Mumbai drill, and heavy desi sampling. For HMK, the ascent was not merely about bars; it was about language, culture, and occupying space where none had been created before.
Then came Big Dawgs.
An nadaswaram-screeching, carnival-thundering sledgehammer of a tune, it struck YouTube like a war cry in July 2024. It wasn’t a song, it was a moment. A moment where he emerged from the wall of death on a motorbike, both metaphorically and literally. The song topped global charts, decimated TikTok, reached Fortnite, and became the unlikeliest of soundtracks to Arsenal FC’s pre-season clip. And so, Hanumankind, living up to his name, became not only a man of the people, but of the world.
The Storm Hits; Monsoon Season
Now, a year later, Monsoon Season comes not as a primer, but as a manifesto.
The 12-song mixtape, released last July 2025, doesn’t plead, it insists. It’s not an album desperate to show Hanumankind deserves a spot; it’s a victory lap packaged as a genre-bending, emotionally layered, and often explosive body of work. This is not just India’s moment in the global rap scene, it’s Hanumankind’s.
Shaped by long-time partners Kalmi, Parimal Shais, and Hisab, and fueled by global firepower in the form of Denzel Curry, A$AP Rocky, and Maxo Kream, the album creates its own mood: sticky, relentless, cinematic. It roars and gasps, flexes and laments. It’s hip-hop drenched in monsoon rain, blared from stadium speakers and muttered in voice mails from mom.
Lightning Bolts and Thunder Claps
From the start, “Run It Up” is a chase track. It’s raw, hulking, a barbell of a song setting the pace. But the climax, the eye of the storm, is the title track, “Monsoon Season.” Not only does it go heavy; it goes wide. With bellicose bellows and synths screaming in terror, HMK is mythic and mortal, howling into the void, shaking his fists at everything from industry ceilings to systemic suppression.
And then there’s “Reckless,” where Denzel Curry is a demon riding in the backseat. The two tear the song apart with such ferocity, you can almost see sparks on the pavement. Hanumankind name-drops Kerala, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, and Houston, not for flair, but for origin. His identity is not borrowed; it’s bulldozed into the lexicon of rap worldwide.
“Big Dawgs” and its A$AP Rocky remix appear here too, not just as singles, but as auras. They have been simmering for four years, according to Kalmi, so Monsoon Season is not just about what’s coming next; it’s about the past. A time capsule with a bass dip.
Raindrops on the Soul
But don’t confuse Hanumankind with a one-note MC. For each combat song, there’s a weakness seeping through the cracks.
“Cause” is perhaps his most haunting effort to date. With a contemplative beat, HMK doesn’t necessarily rap but rather confides, spilling internal conflicts, weight-bearing generations, and the inner anger of those who seek to construct rather than destroy. “Someone Told Me,” with Roisee, is another brooding slow burner, the type of song that sounds as if it was penned at 3:00 AM while observing the rain etch a studio window.
“29.11.23,” an interlude where he hears a voicemail from his mom in Malayalam, pauses the storm for a moment. It’s not only sentimental, it’s earthy. You can hear where the flames originate. You can hear why he struggles.
The Sonic Evolution
Parimal Shais and Kalmi arrive big with production brawn, but never linger. “Goons,” a thumping behemoth with Maxo Kream, premiered in a live performance at Coachella and does the legend justice. It’s rap as world-building, stretching from Houston to Bengaluru like they’re boroughs on the same street.
Meanwhile, “Holiday” receives an equally stunning makeover, now horned thanks to Rhys Sebastian. “Villainous Freestyle” shows off technical skill from Hanumankind’s On The Radar freestyle debut, a reminder that despite all the theatrics, this guy can rap circles around most.
And then there’s “Sicko,” where things get really off the rails. Rap–rock, nu-metal, ambient throbs, it’s what Linkin Park would’ve sounded like if they’d grown up listening to SoundCloud and wilding out in streetwear. Hanumankind unleashes anger not as angst but as a mission. It’s an attack. It’s a cleansing.
Monsoon Season is raw and wide-eyed, not ever glossy, but never faking it. That’s its brilliance. It’s a mixtape-yep-but also a manifesto.
Hanumankind doesn’t dumb down for export. He raps in English, yes, but each syllable is infused with local thunder. Whether it’s the subtle references to Indian classical instruments, the references to Malayali pride, or the spiritual thump of Houston-style beats, he creates music that is of India, not merely from India.
And the world is listening.
He’s billboarded in London. He’s doing syncs on soundtracks with EA Sports. He’s performed at Lollapalooza India, Rolling Loud Thailand, and Coachella. Even there is film cred now (Rifle Club, 2024, with Anurag Kashyap). What started as “underground” has now etched a six-lane highway directly into global awareness.
A Storm That Stays
If you’ve been riding with Hanumankind since his “Southside” days, Monsoon Season will hit like the moment you were waiting for. If you’re joining in late, welcome. Either way, it’s apparent: Hanumankind is no feature artist. He is no flash. He’s the forecast.
The storm has arrived. And he’s here to stay.
