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This article profiles Godhra-based rapper Monk Lama, tracing his journey from casually posting freestyles online to building a distinct hip-hop identity rooted in his small-town upbringing and Nepali heritage. It contrasts the brash, irreverent tone of his short album 'Sexy Kancho' with the darker, introspective themes of his earlier project 'Vichitra', highlighting how he moves between absurd humour and heavier reflections on anger, ego, faith and selfhood. The piece also touches on his wide-ranging musical influences, his everyday life at his Dhaba, and a visual style that stays authentic to his life.
Godhra-based hip-hop artist who goes by Monk Lama never intended to be a rapper. He wrote sometimes, mostly to himself. During college, he uploaded a freestyle on Instagram — “timepass only,” as he puts it. His friend Shubham, who was handling the music producer Snooz3 at the time, saw it and reached out after listening to his track 'Ganjedi Bhai'. They started working together soon after, studio sessions followed and during Covid, they were already performing in Ahmedabad.
Monk Lama grew up in Godhra where his parents had migrated from Nepal. It’s a place that is known for its violent communal riots but for the artist, it was just a small town. He calls his school life fairly normal except for being othered and bullied by his peers because he looked different. “But when I grew up, I just embraced everything,” he shares. “Kancho was a name people used against me and I took it and made my whole identity from it. That's what Sexy Kancho and Monk Lama is all about.”
In ‘Sexy Kancho’ — the short album he dropped last year — Monk Lama lets his personality run wild in graphic ways with language that is crude, but hilarious because of how brazen and unfiltered it is. His verses are wacky and driven by an absurd aggressiveness and cartoonish imagery that are as alluring as they are unashamed.
The project is a stark shift from his 2023 album 'Vichitra'. The title itself — which literally means ‘strange’ or ‘odd’ travels to more introspective spaces. Across 'Vichitra', he moves through the themes of anger and inner demons, sweetness that turns manipulative, imagined death and sacrifice, distorted perceptions, ego, faith and doubt. The whole album feels like a guy sitting with weightier thoughts, grappling with angles of self and society that have a darker edge and power in them.
As an artist, he’s inspired by everyone, “from the OGs to new kids coming up right now,” he notes. His listening moves across eras and genres high and low — from Mac Miller, J. Cole, JID, Kendrick Lamar to Elvis Presley, rock, metal and jazz, all of which show up as references in his sound. His latest track ‘Status’ was built from ‘Trouble’ by Elvis Presley.
By day, Roshan can be found at the Shree Sai Punjabi Dhaba in Godhra, a place where a lot of his writing is done. “Most of my thinking happens at work only — that’s my place. I run it during the day. Lines keep coming to my head while I'm working there,” he shares. When enough lyrics are gathered, he sits with his producer and builds the track properly. The subject rarely shifts away from what is directly in front of him — what he sees, what he feels, what makes sense in his own life.
His visual identity as an artist is rooted in the same reality he stems from which isn’t aestheticized for cultural effect. From his music video for 'Taji', which was a powerpacked, kinetic jolt of cuts and edits to the latest one for 'Status' that leans into 90s, grainy analogue visuals with a saxophone and refined, retro aesthetics, the spaces he inhabits become the mis-en-scene giving us a musical product that is as fresh as it can get.
Something that’ll make you an instant Monk Lama fan, apart from his extraordinary ability to hook you in with jabs and immaculate ear-worm production is his regional identity that is neither performative, banking on “small town struggles”, nor completely traded for the Western street stylictics that one ends up expecting from a rapper. Monk Lama’s voice as an artist is too big and too real to fit into the templates of rappers that have existed before him. Both his lyricism and sound are extensions of his personality which is also the reason why his music is breaking through.
Some of Monk Lama’s biggest dream collaborations AR Rahman, Amit Trivedi, and particularly Santosh Narayan, who he deeply admires for his blends of traditional sounds with a modern production. “From a rap perspective, Gravity, Hanumankind, Shikriwal, Dhanji Dada, and Chaar Diwari are people I genuinely listen to and respect,” he shares. “They're pushing the sound while staying true to their roots and that's exactly what I'm also trying to do. If I could collab with any of them I'd say 'haan' immediately. It's different worlds, different sounds, but the same hunger and same authenticity.”
Follow Monk Lama here and listen to his latest single below:
