Cartel Madras - Goonda Gold

What this video is

Released October 7, 2019, 'Goonda Gold' arrived as Cartel Madras made their Sub Pop debut ahead of the 'Age of the Goonda' EP (November 1, 2019). The video functions as a cultural manifesto: two queer, South Asian-Canadian sisters — born in Chennai, raised in Calgary — reclaiming the Hindi slang 'goonda' (criminal/thug) as a term of self-empowered brown-girl defiance. The video sits at the intersection of rising…

Why it matters

A foundational document of 'Goonda Rap,' the self-coined genre blending trap, punk, house, and South Indian musical traditions. The video demonstrates how Desi diaspora artists were indigenizing and reclaiming trap aesthetics in 2019, paralleling M.I.A.'s earlier post-colonial pop interventions…

The director

The Makan brothers are Canadian filmmakers who directed the official video for Cartel Madras' 'Goonda Gold' (2019). Jashan Makan later collaborated with Cartel Madras again on the 'Fear & Loathing' music video (2021), co-directed with the duo themselves,…