Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Sheshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman (born 15 October 1975), professionally known as Blaaze (), is an Indian Tamil language playback singer and rapper in

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

who specializes in writing and performing

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. An Indian by birth, born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, he grew up in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

and later did his education in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and in the US.

Life and career

Blaaze was born on the Vijaya Dashami day of 1975 into a Brahmin family from Mylapore in

, Tamil Nadu, India. The name 'Vijaya' was added to his full name because of his birth on Vijaya Dashami. He was later raised in

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

, educated in England and graduated from Columbia College Hollywood, United States. His father being an architect, his family toured around the entire country with Blaaze starting to perform

Breakdance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

on the sets his father designed, when he was 9. He then moved on to rapping and his music career began with a performance for President

Chiluba Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (30 April 1943 – 18 June 2011) was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as ...

during the election campaign in October 1991 at the age of 16 and just 5 months later he produced and performed in Zambia's first ever music video ''Advice 4 Livin with the Zambian national broadcasting corporation. Ten years later, in 2002 his entry into the Indian film industry happened, when

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

appointed Blaaze to sing his first song in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

, the "Baba Rap" for

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

's movie ''Baba''. Thereafter he performed for several Chennai film industry songs frequently under Rahman's direction on scores for ''

Kangalal Kaidhu Sei ''Kangalal Kaidhu Sei'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic thriller film written by Sujatha and directed by Bharathiraja. It stars Vaseegaran in the protagonist's role and marks Priyamani's debut in the Tamil cinema. It also ma ...

'', ''

Boys A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...

'', '' Enakku 20 Unakku 18'', ''

New New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'', ''

Aayutha Ezhuthu ''Aayutha Ezhuthu'' is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. It is loosely based on the life story of George Reddy, a scholar from Osmania University of Hyderabad. It stars Suriya in the lead r ...

'', '' Anbe Aaruyire'' . Other music directors from the film industry also started using Blaaze's rap talent in their films like

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

for ''

Manmadhan Kama ( sa, काम, ), also known as Kamadeva and Manmatha, is the Hindu god of love and desire, often portrayed alongside his consort, Rati. The Atharva Veda regards Kamadeva as the wielder of the creative power of the universe, also descri ...

'' and ''

Vallavan ''Vallavan'' ( ''Expert'') is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written and directed by Silambarasan, starring himself as the titular character along with Reema Sen and Nayanthara as lead heoines whilst Sandhya, Santhanam, Prem ...

'' and the likes of

Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...

Joshua Sridhar Joshua Sridhar (born 1974 in Chennai, India) is an Indian composer. He made his debut on the runaway hit Tamil film ''Kaadhal'' which was released on 8 December 2004. Early life and education Joshua Sridhar was born in Chennai on 9 March 1974 ...

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

, Mani Sharma,

Devi Sri Prasad Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil films ...

inter alia for their films respectively. He has also done the rap lyrics for the title track of the famous Star One show ''

Remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

''. He has appeared as himself in the music videos of several songs he has rapped for, including "Yennadi Muniyamma" (''

Vathiyar ''Vathiyar'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by A. Venkatesh starring Arjun and Mallika Kapoor. The music was composed by D. Imman. It was released on 10 November 2006 and recorded an average at the box office. ...

''), "Taxi Taxi" ('' Sakkarakatti''), "Vaanam Ellai" ('' Unnaipol Oruvan'') and "Padapadakkudhu Maname" ('' Moondru Per Moondru Kadal''). Blaaze with several others like A.R. Rahman, and Apache India played a significant role in familiarizing hip hop in South India in the previous decade. His famous songs include " The Boss" and "Style" for '' Sivaji: The Boss,'',"CEO in the House" for '' Sarkar'', "Hey Salaa" for ''

Aegan ''Aegan'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed and co-written by Raju Sundaram and produced by Ayngaran International. It stars Ajith Kumar and Nayanthara, with Suman, Jayaram, Nassar, Navdeep, and Piaa Bajpai in support ...

'', "Gangsta Blues" for '' Slumdog Millionaire'', "Hosanna" for '' Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa'', "Raajali" for '' 2.0''. He also co-wrote the song "Dreams on Fire" from ''Slumdog Millionaire'', as well as being the lyricist on ''Gangsta Blues,'' from ''Slumdog Millionaire''. With guidance from

, Blaaze wrote the official UN Anthem for Poverty, "

Pray For Me Brother "Pray for Me Brother" is a single by Indian composer A. R. Rahman. Released in 2007, being one of the earliest vertical music videos, the song was conceived as an anti-poverty anthem for the Millennium Goals for the United Nations. It is part ...

". His continued perseverance to rap about issue-oriented subjects earned him the nation's vote for MTV Youth Icon of the Year 2008. He has rapped in

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...

's Malayalam movie ''Casanova'' and is the lyricist for two songs on the

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Swingers''. He has appeared in ...

motion picture ''Couples Retreat.'' , co-written with

, and, "NaNa", co-written with Vivian Chaix and

. His band, ZambeZi funK, is ready with their debut album, ''funKalistiC syllaBleZ''. His non-film work comprises issue oriented music, with messages being spread on the Gujarat Riots, Bilkis Bano, the religion issues in India, banning of corrupt police in the song "Ban The Crooked Police"... Inquilab, and "Stand Up Unite", for the Mumbai terror attacks. He has worked as a Music Director for Warner Bros film ''Saas, Bahu Aur ex'', with the song on a new age India, called, "What's Up India". The film was directed by Shona Urvashi. He has also worked as music director for the soundtrack of the film ''Striker''. In September 2011, 'Time For Gandhi' – BlaaZe's debut album – India's first real hip hop 'protest' album – released on EMI VIRGIN MUSIC.He lives in Chennai with his family. His sister, Rekha Srinivasan, is a trained Bharatnatyam and Kathak Dancer, residing in New Jersey and founder of the Bhaarat Nritya Academy. With over 100 students trained and mentored, and several accolades, she is a pillar of the New Jersey Community
Bhaarat Nritya Academy
BlaaZé teamed up with Music Director Paul Jacob, and together they released the world's first Sanskrit hip hop album, ''Rap Bhakthi Mala''. In 2020, he rapped for the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

single, ''

OMG Daddy ''Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo'' is the soundtrack album composed by Thaman S for the 2020 Tollywood film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, of the same name starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde in lead roles, directed by Trivikram Srinivas, the film marks Thama ...

'' from the Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo soundtrack album of the Tollywood film ''

Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo ''Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo'' () (), also known by the initialism ''AVPL'', is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film stars Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde, alongside Tabu, Jayaram, Susha ...

''.

Awards

* MTV Youth Icon 2008 :Chosen out of 8,000 probables, and voted as India's favourite, MTV Networks, announced its 8 winners of the Pepsi MTV Youth Icon Awards in 2008. BlaaZe won the votes for his contribution to socially relevant issues through his music, and his lyrics for the official UN anthem on poverty alleviation, Pray For Me, Brother, composed by A R Rahman.

References

External links

Official website
*
BlaaZe's Youtube Channel
* https://web.archive.org/web/20071021212520/http://hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2006/04/18/stories/2006041800020100.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaaze 1975 births Living people Indian male playback singers Indian hip hop singers Indian rappers Tamil musicians Bollywood playback singers Singers from Chennai