Sudu Shan Found His Way Back to His Roots With Culture Vulture

Sudu Shan didn't exactly plan on becoming a musician. He wanted to be a video game designer. Then school happened, a few teachers pushed him towards the mridangam, and somewhere between learning rhythm and getting obsessed with Western hip-hop, music became the thing he couldn't leave alone. The Chennai-born 23-year-old started making music around 2018, began releasing officially in 2025, and has since found his way into experimental hip-hop, pulling from jazz, rock, soul, EDM and house depending on where a track takes him. His latest release, Culture Vulture, arrived on 24 July and is perhaps his most personal yet.

The song is about what happens when being heavily influenced by the West starts making you feel detached from where you came from. Rather than choosing one side, Sudu decided to put both into the music. Culture Vulture moves between English, Tamizh and Hindi, bringing together trap, hip-hop and regional folk while telling the story of finding his way back to his own cultural identity. He says it took him about a week to figure out how to express that story lyrically and sonically. It's also the first time he has brought Tamizh and Hindi into his music so directly, having predominantly worked in English before this.

The Chennai connection doesn't stop with the lyrics. Sudu built the song's entire promotional campaign around the city that shaped him, using reels and content featuring local food, iconic sights and familiar Chennai spots. Even the artwork comes from a photograph taken by a friend at a place in Chennai that Sudu visits regularly, a spot that carries plenty of nostalgia for him and for the people who grew up around it. The song was recorded at Abibi Studios in Chennai, one of the city's go-to studios for independent artists. So the city isn't just part of the story behind Culture Vulture. It's all over the release.

Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Mac Miller, Travis Scott, Denzel Curry and Machine Gun Kelly have all influenced Sudu's vocals and production, while the mridangam remains his favourite instrument. He doesn't actively try to recreate anyone else's style, although friends have picked up similarities to Kanye, Travis and Denzel in his music. He describes his overall musical journey with one word, “Perseverance”, but calls Culture Vulture “Rooted”. Outside music, you'll probably find him making beats, heading to the beach, drinking hot dark chocolate, learning about space or hanging out with close friends. At 23, Sudu is still figuring out exactly where his sound belongs, but Culture Vulture makes one thing pretty clear: he isn't interested in choosing between the worlds that shaped him. He's putting them in the same song.