Krishan Maheson

Krishan Maheson —better known as KRISHAN —is a rap artist from Sri Lanka. KRISHAN specializes in Tamil rap music, and is notably one of the pioneer Tamil rap artists in the world. KRISHAN started off the Tamil rap scene in Sri Lanka together with brother Gajan and fellow MC Yauwanan.

KRISHAN was founder member of Urban Sound with Gajan, together the duo released “Smooth Flow” in 1998.^[1] The duo was influenced by local hiphop legends Brown boogie nation and Rude Bwoi Republic. Being mentored by Brown boogie nation, the duo released several English rap singles and formed a following in Colombo. The duo split in early 2000, when Gajan left to join BNS and KRISHAN joining IRAJ. KRISHAN later was featured on many singles produced under IRAJ including “Ninda Noyena Hadawe”, “Ran Ran Ran”, “Koththu song”,” Mata Aloke Genadhewi” and many more.^[1] KRISHAN left to UK for his higher studies in 2005, prior to that he completed his Solo debut album Asian Avenue. This was the first ever Sri Lankan album to be launched by Universal Music India in 2006 which was followed by BNS’s CMB to Mumbai in 2007.

Singles from Asian Avenue were widely accepted by the Tamils worldwide. Hit singles from the album include “J TOWN STORY”, “Raja Raja Sozha”, ” Kaadhal Kadidham” and “Ninaivugale”. KRISHAN performed at many clubs, events in the UK promoting this album and opened doors to a new era of Tamil rap music. This super hit album was produced by Yohan R.

After many years of silence, KRISHAN had a comeback album titled “Avadhaaram”.^[2] The album didn’t work much in favour to the rapper, critics on the album was that the rapper had lost his touch. But yet 2 singles from this album were worldwide hits. “Amudhame” was nominated as one of the most promising songs for 2008 by BBC Radio 1.^[2] And was highly rotated by British DJ NIHAL. The song also won him an award at AVIMA in 2009 as the best hip-hop solo act. OH OH ENDHAN Darling on the other hand was a massive commercial success, being played at stations and clubs worldwide. The song was included on RADIO EXPRESS’s DANCE EXPRESS compilation along with big names Jason Derulo, Pitbull and Rhianna. The song was also included in the BEST OF HIPHOP AND RNB 2010 VOL 3 which included the best 100 tracks from the world.

KRISHAN is now focusing on productions and has set up his own digital label CONNECT MEDIA and owns a studio in Colombo. He is rumoured to be working on a 3rd album, where he is focusing on his rapping and lyrical skills, and the album boasts big names from the South Indian music scene. The 3rd album is scheduled to release in December 2011. KRISHAN also is now working with prominent South Indian Music Directors on their film projects and is being featured on many Kollywood movie songs.

The Sri Lankan born artist Krishan Maheson. Krishan Maheson is one of the most pioneer hiphop artists from Sri Lanka. He formed th rap group Urban Sound in 1998 with fellow musician and brother Gajan Maheson. The Maheson brothers created a stream of underground English hiphop in Sri Lanka and also had many mainstream hit singles including "Smooth Flow", "Celebrities", "SL 2030" and many more. The group discontinued and both continued on their solo acts with other reputed musicians in the country.

Krishan was also a member of the ILL Noize hiphop crew with Iraj Weeraratne and released Sri Lanka's first ever Tri-lingual album in 2001 titled "Iraj". He was featured in hit singles "Ran Ran", "Ninda noyena hanadawe" and also released Sri Lanka's first ever Tamil rap song "J Town Story". Krishan later released his solo album and Sri Lanka's first ever Tamil hiphop album "Asian Avenue" in 2005 under Universal music India and this was the first ever Sri Lankan Tamil album to be released in South India. The album consisted of many hits including "Tholaa", "Raja raja Sozhaa", "Kaadhal Kadidham" and "Ninaivugalae". The album opened doors for Krishan to reach out to the young Tamil diaspora markets in Europe and Canada in the mid 2000s.

He later came back to the music scene after a 5-year absence with the album "Avathaaram" in 2010, and the album was not promoted well, hence not giving him the adequate come back the listeners expected. He later ventured into the South Indian movie market by working with prominent music directors Vijay Antony, D.Imman and Paul Jacob. Krishan was featured on the 2012 hit single "Makkayaala" from the Naan movie and also was on movies such as Amba samuthra Ambani, Yuvan Yuvadhi, Sattapadi Kuttram, Om obama and Naan.

Krishan Maheson is also the recipient of the best rap act at the local DMVA 2011 and also the best hiphop solo act at the AVIMA (Malaysia) in 2009.

Discography

• URBAN SOUND MIXTAPE (1999)
• IRAJ (2004)
• ASIAN AVENUE (2005)
• AVADHAARAM (2010)
• PROJECT 3 (2016) To be released

External links

• -official Facebook page
• @KRISHANMUSIC - official Twitter account

References