BBC Newsbeat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Millions of streams, worldwide chart success and a Coachella performance on the horizon.<\/p>\n When rapper Hanumankind reflects on the past year and what’s to come, he feels “grateful and blessed”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n The journey has been nothing short of “a rollercoaster ride”, he says.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unlike in the business world, Hanumankind says there is nobody but himself to hold him accountable.<\/p>\n “It’s not like all of a sudden now that you’re making music things get easier.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “There’s no blueprint. You have to deal with the confines of freedom,” he says.<\/p>\n That freedom, though, is what he brings into his music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n His tunes are in English, but he wants to maintain the global appeal for South Asians and stay true to his roots.<\/p>\n “It just happens. I just try and make it as I feel.<\/p>\n “I just try and make sure that there’s no real boundary,” he says.<\/p>\n For Run It Up, his music video brings together the different cultures of India – where he returned in 2021.<\/p>\n He describes it as “100% a conscious decision”.<\/p>\n “I think this song in particular was specifically for this in terms of sound and message.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n But he adds this is just one perspective of “a side of the world where there is so much more to it”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The creation of the song and video was “wild in an extremely chaotic way”, he says.<\/p>\n “I think it’s very important for us to express ourselves because we come from the chaos.<\/p>\n “We strive to create in the chaos,” he says, adding the process helps him “have fun”.<\/p>\n “It’s a work in progress. It’s continuous and I’m learning as I go.”<\/p>\n One of those he has learned from is rapper A$AP Rocky, with the pair collaborating on a remix version of Big Dawgs.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “It was a crazy time for all of us. And people were reaching out in regards to doing features.”<\/p>\n Then came the call from Rocky.<\/p>\n “He creatively is someone that I admire. I think he’s a visionary and he’s been doing incredible work for years and years.<\/p>\n “And the rest is history,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next month will see another first for Hanumankind – playing at Coachella festival in California.<\/p>\n “We still kind of soaking it all in,” he says.<\/p>\n “We’re just trying to make sure that we have a good time and put on a show.<\/p>\n “So I am definitely going to be trying out different sounds and bringing art. I’m going to try and showcase a little bit of our side to them.”<\/p>\n He doesn’t think there will be a new EP before Coachella, but does hint at fresh elements that people haven’t heard from him yet.<\/p>\n “I think that’s a good place for people to hear what it is that we’re sitting on now,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/5af0\/live\/67648050-0b34-11f0-ba12-8d27eb561761.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘We strive to create in chaos’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/5fea\/live\/7fe64e10-0b34-11f0-ba12-8d27eb561761.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/5946\/live\/3722b8c0-0b35-11f0-b234-07dc7691c360.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8366\/live\/74a706f0-15d7-11ef-9b12-1ba8f95c4917.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n