Iraj Weeraratne (born 21 February 1981) known professionally as IRAJ is a Sri LankanRapper, Music Producer and DJ. Weeraratne had a television show on Derana TV called "Iraj Show".[1] He is known as a prominent hip-hop and RnB artist in Sri Lanka. He was the first person to introduce Sinhala rap as well as Tamil rap to Sri Lanka in 2004.[2]
His first South Indian composition together with Vijay Anthony featured in the 2009 Tamil film, Vettaikaaran, starring Kollywood star Vijay and was ranked number one in the Chennai Charts.[3][citation needed]
During different election periods in Sri Lanka, Iraj actively participated in facebook, twitter and other social media platforms for political sponsoring in solidification with the Rajapaksa camp.[4] He also contributed to content that promoted political campaigns and mobilised his several followers to have a specific type of opinion.[5] Iraj has been accused of being part of propaganda campaigns all with an aim of making the ruling parties he supports gain acceptance from the public.[6][7][8] He has been more involved in the media and acts as a public figure that has exacerbated these allegations.[9]
He won the best keyboardist title which was awarded by Guildhall Music School at the age of 16. He later teamed up with his schoolmates Ranidu Lankage and Yauwana Wigneswaran to form a band titled ‘’Zealots’’ while still studying at the Royal College, Colombo.[16] He owns the Bongohd firm in Bangladesh.[17] In August 2020, he was appointed as the board member of National Youth Service Council by Namal Rajapaksa and he was supposed to serve in the relevant position for a period of three years.[18] However, a year later after his appointment he resigned from the position citing unavoidable poor work-related commitments.[19][20]
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