By Carlos Passage
His name is Balen Shah: Rapper, former mayor, and soon-to-be Prime Minister of Nepal.
His sunglasses and his songs are a sensation.
Balen, as he is popularly known, was a nobody until 2013, when he became a rap sensation almost overnight. Nearly a decade later, in May 2022, he surprised Nepal’s deeply entrenched traditional political parties by winning the mayoral election in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.
When the Himalayan nation of 30 million people erupted in popular protests against the government of then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in September 2025, Balen became a leading advocate for the protesters.
As Nepal heads toward its first elections since last year’s protests, Balen is positioning himself as the future prime minister the country needs.
His volatile public communication—he has harshly criticized the major political parties, India, China, and the United States, and threatened to burn symbols of power in Nepal—has drawn criticism and questions about whether he is ready for high office.
Carlos Passage