Yuki Navarathne

Yuki Navaratne (also spelled Yuki Navarathne), born Pannala Gedara Yukthi Prabudika Navaratne and known in production credits as YukiBeatz, is a Sri Lankan music producer, singer, and arranger who became one of the central figures of the country’s modern hip-hop and trap scene. His sound blends HipHop, RnB, and trap with electronic textures and Sri Lankan instrumentation, and he has produced or featured on many of the breakout rap tracks of the past decade.

Early life and background

Navaratne was born on 12 May 1990 in Kandy, in Sri Lanka’s central hills. He first performed in the traditional Kandyan dance scene during his school years at St. Silvester College before moving to Colombo to build a career in music production, where he set up his own studio under the YukiBeatz name.

Career and breakthrough

Yuki Navaratne’s profile rose from around 2015 through his work with the Colombo rap crew Drill Team (Drill Team Westnahira), and from 2017 his collaborations with Wasthi produced a run of widely shared singles. He went on to work closely with rapper Ravi Jay, with whom he made some of his best known tracks, and with singers including Anushka Udana, Smokio, Janendra Perera, and Dulaj Jayatillake.

Yuki Navarathne’s signature songs

As producer and arranger, Navaratne shaped tracks such as Baisikalaya and His Ath with Drill Team, Nurawani and Kalagotti with Anushka Udana, and Adu Kule Para Haththa alongside Wasthi. He also performs, sharing the mic with Ravi Jay on Toiya Baiya.

• Toiya Baiya (with Ravi Jay)
• Baisikalaya (with Drill Team)
• His Ath (with Drill Team)
• Nurawani (with Anushka Udana)
• Kalagotti
• Adu Kule Para Haththa
• Meedum (Tharu Atharin)
• Thawa Dawasak

Legacy

By the 2020s Yuki Navaratne had become a fixture of Sri Lankan streaming, recognised as a leading local artist on Spotify across 2022, 2023, and 2024, with audiences spread across more than 150 countries. Through both his production for the Drill Team and Wasthi camps and his own releases, Yuki Navarathne helped define the texture of contemporary Sinhala rap.