He sang more than 2000 songs in movies, and later ventured into playback singing, performing for many leading South Indian film composers in various languages.

[1] After completing his MBA and M.Com, Rahul started working for two years in a bank, which he felt was too "monotonous",[2] before performing at live shows with Sunitha Sarathy.

[1] In 2009, Rahul joined hands with his longtime friend and bass player Aalap Raju to form a band named RAHLAAP.

[1][4] Rahul has performed more than 400 live shows around India and abroad,[1] and over 350 songs for films, most prominent ones being Mani Sharma's "Vasantha Mullai" (Pokkiri),[3] Yuvan Shankar Raja's "Adada Mazhada" (Paiyaa) which fetched him his first Filmfare nomination for the Best Male Playback Singer Award.

[1] Rahul Nambiar since 2019 is also part of a trio called MAKKA with his musician friends Aalap Raju and Ranjith Govind, where they perform some rocking cine and non-film songs.