Ashanthi

Ashanthi
Ashanthi De Alwis in 2014.
Background information
Born	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Genres	Hip hop, crunk&B, folkhop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, singer, songwriter
Years active	2003 – present
Labels	Sony Music, Universal Music, M Entertainment
Associated acts	BnS, Randhir, Ranidu Lankage
Website	Official Website

Ashanthi De Alwis (Sinhala:අශාන්ති ද අල්විස්), known simply as Ashanthi, is a Sri Lankan rapper, singer and songwriter. She is the only Sri Lankan female rapper who signed with international record labels Sony Music and Universal Music in 2003. She began her career as a rapper with BnS, and continued that role after achieving solo success.

Ashanthi's first major label album was as half of the duo Ashanthi n' Ranidu, with the album Oba Magemai released in 2003. Her debut solo album Sandawathuren was released in 2006. This was the first hip hop solo album to be released by a Sri Lankan female. Her general style of music is ethnic hip hop with massive market appeal. Sandawathuren was sung in Sinhala, with the exception of two English songs.

Ashanthi has toured internationally in countries throughout Europe, North America, Australasia and Asia. In 2008, Dialog signed up Ashanthi to be a brand ambassador for their pre-paid brand KIT.

At the 2008 Derana Music Video Awards, Ashanthi won the award for 'Best Hip Hop Video' for Alawanthiyak. She also recorded the 11th anniversary jingles for Y FM, Sri Lanka in November 2016.