Who Is CheerFaad? The Delhi Artist Building His Own Trap-Metal Sound, Trap-Metal Artist, Music & Career
Updated: Sep 9
There is a version of Indian hip-hop that is easy to recognise.
There are the familiar flows, the familiar production, the familiar visual language. And then there are artists who seem less interested in fitting into an existing lane than in building one around themselves.
CheerFaad belongs to the latter category.
Born out of Delhi's Jamnapaar and shaped by both Indian hip-hop and the heavier sounds of global alternative music, CheerFaad has spent the better part of the last several years developing a sound that sits somewhere between rap, trap, metal and screamo.
It is loud. It is confrontational. At times, deliberately uncomfortable.
And that is precisely the point.
For CheerFaad, the music is not simply about making aggressive songs. It is about creating an identity — one that allows pain, frustration, ambition and individuality to exist in the same space.
Now, as DHE Studio begins managing CheerFaad across brand partnerships, bookings, live performances and commercial opportunities, the artist enters a new phase of his career.
But before looking at where he is going, it is worth understanding how he got here.
CheerFaad
Artist: Kanhaiya Lal Sharma
Based: Delhi, India
Sound: Trap Metal / Screamo Rap
Known for: High-energy performances, distinctive visual identity and genre-blending sound
Management: DHE Studio
From Jamnapaar to a Different Kind of Rap
CheerFaad, whose real name is Kanhaiya Lal Sharma, traces his entry into rap back to 2017. He began writing his own songs in 2018, with his early influences including names such as Bohemia, Raga and Honey Singh.
Like many artists entering hip-hop, the initial journey was about finding a voice.
But finding that voice became more complicated when Cheerfaad realised that conventional rap did not fully capture what he wanted to express.
Around 2020, that search led to "Khud Se Khafa."
The track became an important turning point.
According to CheerFaad's account of his journey, the song emerged during a difficult period and carried a mixture of aggression and sadness. Producer RHLJ beats encouraged him to take the track in a trap-metal direction.
That decision would ultimately define much of the artist who followed.
Finding the Sound of CheerFaad - Who Is CheerFaad? Delhi’s Trap-Metal Artist, Music & Career
Trap metal sits at an unusual intersection.
It takes the rhythm, attitude and production language of trap and pushes it into the sonic territory of metal and hardcore music — distorted production, screamed vocals, heavier textures and an intensity that is fundamentally different from conventional rap.
For CheerFaad, the style became more than a musical experiment.
He has spoken about wanting to create something that felt distinctly his rather than simply reproducing what already existed. His influences expanded beyond Indian rap into international artists associated with trap metal and screamo, including ZILLAKAMI, Scarlxrd, Ghostemane and Kim Dracula.
That combination is important.
CheerFaad's music doesn't attempt to erase his Indian identity in order to sound international. Instead, his work sits at the intersection of the two — global alternative influences filtered through Delhi, Hindi-language expression and the cultural vocabulary of contemporary Indian youth.
It is one reason the artist has frequently been described in coverage as an early or pioneering figure in India's trap-metal/screamo-rap space.
Rather than treating that label as a definitive historical claim, the more interesting point is what CheerFaad represents: the widening of India's independent hip-hop landscape beyond its more established sonic categories.
The Birth of the "Angry Monster"
If "Khud Se Khafa" was a turning point, the "Angry Monster" era helped give CheerFaad a recognisable artistic world.
The Angry Monster EP emerged across 2022–23, with much of the project produced by BAD Junkie. Tracks including "Rapdon," "Mamamia," "Swaha" and "Paisa Moti Faram" helped establish the aggressive sound that would become central to Cheerfaad's identity.
The music was only one part of it.
CheerFaad's visual identity became increasingly inseparable from the sound.
Half-black, half-white hair. Black nails. Masks. Long coats. Cargo trousers. Heavy boots.
And, during performances, a tendency to physically tear into the clothes by the end of the set.
It is theatrical, but not theatre for theatre's sake.
The visual language reinforces the idea behind the music: Cheerfaad is a constructed stage persona designed to express a side of the artist that does not necessarily exist in everyday life.
He has described this as a duality between Kanhaiya, his everyday identity, and Cheerfaad, the stage alter ego.
That distinction is central to understanding the artist.
CheerFaad Is More Than a Genre
It would be easy to reduce CheerFaad to "the trap-metal guy."
That would also miss what makes the project interesting.
Genre is the entry point. Identity is the product.
The music is aggressive, but the themes behind it repeatedly return to individuality, resilience, struggle and refusing to conform. His own advice to emerging artists has similarly centred on patience and consistency.
That philosophy also explains the artist's willingness to work across different sounds and collaborators.
His catalogue includes Hindi trap-metal and screamo-rap material, but also Punjabi collaborations and cross-regional work. His collaborators have included producers such as BAD Junkie, RHLJ beats, Karta, Sankiii and Xistence, alongside artists including Vyoma, Praxp, K KAY, Sharaj and Spidy J.
The result is not a perfectly neat discography.
It is something more useful for an emerging artist: a developing world.
From Angry Monster to Over-Take-Over
CheerFaad continued expanding that world with the six-track Over-Take-Over EP, released on July 5, 2024.
The project included "Intro," "Over-Take-Over," "Chips Mangra Hai," "Oh My God," "Basic Need" and "Nasha," with collaborators including K KAY, BAD Junkie, Spidy J, Hadronate and MC Headshot across the project.
The title itself feels appropriate.
This was not an artist abandoning the sound that made him recognisable. It was an artist attempting to push that identity further.
That progression continued through 2025 with releases including "Kali Gadi," "Karam Kaand," "Haramkor," "FatteyMaar," "Rog Bane Log" and other singles.
Among these collaborations was "Haramkor," a Vyoma track featuring CheerFaad, and "FatteyMaar," featuring Praxp.
The catalogue points toward an artist who is still experimenting while remaining recognisably himself.
Taking the Sound Beyond the Underground
For an alternative artist, the transition from recorded music to live performance is an important test.
A song can create an atmosphere through headphones. A live set has to create that atmosphere in a room.
CheerFaad's increasingly visible live trajectory is therefore significant.
In early 2025, he was listed among the rising hip-hop artists on the Indian Sneaker Festival's Gurugram lineup, alongside artists including 21 Savage, Ritviz, Karan Kanchan and Hanumankind.
That context matters.
It places an artist rooted in a comparatively niche musical lane within a much broader youth-culture environment — music, sneakers, fashion, street culture and contemporary entertainment.
And that may ultimately be where Cheerfaad has an opportunity to grow.
Not by becoming less alternative.
But by making alternative culture more visible.
Why CheerFaad Is Interesting Right Now
Who Is CheerFaad? Delhi’s Trap-Metal Artist, Music & Career: India's independent music ecosystem has become increasingly fragmented — and that fragmentation can be an advantage.
There is no longer a single definition of what an Indian hip-hop artist is supposed to sound like.
Artists are moving between rap, electronic music, rock, metal, regional languages, pop and global internet-born genres. Audiences are doing the same.
CheerFaad exists naturally inside that shift.
His strongest asset is not simply that he makes trap metal.
It is that he has built a recognisable world around it.
The sound has a clear emotional intensity.
The visual identity is immediately identifiable.
The stage persona gives the project narrative.
And the Jamnapaar connection gives it a geographical and cultural anchor.
That combination creates something brands, festivals and audiences increasingly look for in emerging talent: a point of view.
The Next Chapter: CheerFaad x DHE Studio
The next stage of CheerFaad's career now comes with a new professional structure.
DHE Studio has begun managing CheerFaad, with a focus on brand partnerships, bookings, live performances and commercial opportunities.
For DHE, the association is part of a broader belief in artists who have a distinct creative identity rather than simply fitting an existing commercial template.
And for Cheerfaad, it creates an opportunity to take the world he has built independently and connect it with a wider range of platforms — from live stages and festivals to brand collaborations and cultural experiences.
The objective is not to dilute what makes CheerFaad different.
It is to find the right spaces for that difference to matter.
For brands looking to connect with India's evolving youth culture, for event organisers looking for a high-energy live act, or for commercial partners interested in working with an artist operating outside the conventional mainstream, Cheerfaad represents an increasingly interesting proposition.
DHE Studio is now the point of contact for those opportunities.
What Comes Next for CheerFaad?
The most interesting part of an emerging artist's story is rarely what has already happened.
It is what happens when the identity they've built starts meeting a bigger stage.
CheerFaad has already spent years figuring out what he does not want to sound like.
Now comes the more difficult part:
figuring out just how far his sound can travel.
From Jamnapaar to trap metal. From Khud Se Khafa to Angry Monster and Over-Take-Over. From underground releases to larger cultural stages.
CheerFaad's story is still being written.
And if the past few years are any indication, it probably won't be quiet.
Work With CheerFaad
Brands, event organisers, festivals and commercial partners interested in working with Cheerfaad can connect with DHE Studio for bookings, live performances, brand partnerships and commercial opportunities.
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