There is an easy myth that opulence and emptiness walk together. King Farouk of Egypt, the last reigning monarch of his country, embodied that myth in almost cinematic proportions. A man of immense charm and impossible appetites, Farouk was both adored and ridiculed: a monarch obsessed with excess, with a hunger for watches, cars, and a lavish 'playboy' lifestyle. His reign was a spectacle of grandeur that collapsed into exile when Egypt’s monarchy was overthrown in 1952. This legend of a man consumed by his own image lies at the heart of 'Farookh', the new mixtape by Delhi-based artist alternative hip-hop artist shauharty.

'Farookh' unfolds through four acts — Ego, Pleasure, Identity, and Acceptance, each tracing a different phase of self-confrontation. It is described as an emotional excavation, and that’s precisely what it feels like. Across the record, shauharty examines how ego builds and collapses, how ambition distorts self-image, and what remains when the performance ends.

Sonically, the record leans towards old-school New York jazz inflected-alternative hip-hop and R&B warmth. Producers including 30KEY!, medicatedmints, and others pull from brass, vinyl textures, sparse piano, and low, pliant bass to create a roomy soundstage. This is a rich, refreshing sound that refuses the dull bombast of mainstream rap. The use of samples shapes the record’s personality. Snatches of dialogue, field recordings, and ambient textures serve as clues to who shauharty is — curious, open, and exacting about what he includes. Each borrowed sound — from vintage jazz loops to spiritual fragments — forms part of his self-portrait.

shauharty’s writing is performative and confessional at once; he mocks ego, tackles fear, and refuses the roles the industry hands him. This particularly comes through in tracks like 'Indulgence of Adolescence' where he says, “I will never let this industry masculinize me,” pushing back against an industry whose default is often hypermasculine aggression, and posturing. His subversion of that trope privileging humility and introspection makes the record singular.

The lyrics across 'Farookh' read like an elaborate interior monologue. They move between loud showmanship and more intimate reckonings: images of decay, costume, and public theatre become metaphors for identity-work — renunciation, reclamation, and the attempt to remain tender amid exposure. He moves between Hindi and English in a very stream-of-consciousness rhythm, the way thoughts emerge in our head naturally which gives the record a real narrative momentum.

'Saddam Hussainé' (released earlier and accompanied by a desi spaghetti-western short film) stands as one of the mixtape’s boldest statements of a moral confrontation with ego. The music video frames the track as a mirage of power and renunciation; its cinematic dust and brass underline the message that power built on delusion is fragile, and letting go can be its own kind of victory.

Watch its music video below:

'Delicate Ache of the Unknown' sits in act three as an admission and a homesickness. Built on a beat by 30KEY! and completed by Karshni’s hook, the track carries an unease of being caught between places. It reflects shauharty’s own experience of never fully feeling at home, of carrying the side-eye of unfamiliar spaces wherever he goes. The song’s jazz and R&B influences lend it a subdued, melancholic tone; it’s an intimate meditation on belonging and the ache of never quite arriving.

'Stancyk!' draws from Jan Matejko’s painting of the same name, where the Polish court jester sits alone in a room while the rest of the palace celebrates, grieving the fall of his country. The painting’s power lies in that contrast of despair and celebration rooted in denial; one man burdened with truth while everyone else dances. The track channels that same urge for moral clarity. 'Pitstop 4 Sex', on the other hand, is a short interlude but one of the mixtape’s most striking moments. With an Osho sample used sparingly, it captures the project’s spiritual compass — the tension between pleasure and reflection, or indulgence and discipline.

Independent to the core, 'Farookh' is a project built entirely outside the machinery of the industry. Conceived, self-funded, and executed without institutional backing, it carries a conviction and belief in its own power that few projects manage. Every listening session, visual, and performance for the project was created from the ground up including a personal newsletter that the artist published with each release. Earlier this year, the mixtape previewed through sold-out listening sessions in Delhi and Mumbai, where audiences experienced its four acts through theatrical storytelling and wardrobe shifts. Two weeks later, shauharty performed it live on a sold-out conceptual show with his four-piece band, Darookhs, at Oddbird Theatre in Delhi.

Through this stellar sophomore project, shauharty leads a heart-forward examination of identity that many of us are thirsty for in the arid online world of manufactured personas. Watching him go deeper into his craft and self-mythologize his way into the pursuing his own truth feels magnetic. The artist turns a deeply private reflection public, painting a picture of the disillusionment, and a desire for redemption that runs through any individual, trying to find his place in the world making it an enriching, and incredibly entertaining ride worth tagging along to.

Follow shauharty here and listen to the mixtape below:

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