[9] He was also briefly a member of alternative hip hop outfit Collapsed Lung and worked with Fun Da Mental and Punjabi MC, Badmarsh & Shri, Mentor, Sona Family and DJ Sanj.

In the late 1990s Arthanayake turned to music promotion working for artists as diverse as Nitin Sawhney, Judge Jules, Mos Def and Elton John[10] and it was while working for the groundbreaking Asian Beats record label Outcaste Records he promoted, amongst others Badmarsh & Shri's Signs album.

[11] Arthanayake has worked as a freelance music journalist, writing for Asiana, Eastern Eye, The Face, Mixmag, Hip Hop Connection,[11] Attitude, Bear magazine, Cage And Aviary Birds and The Observer.

[17] Until September 2016 Arthanayake had his own discussion programme concerned with societal and political topics at BBC Radio A (Asian Network) Channel: Nihal.

In September 2016 Nihal joined BBC Radio 5 Live co-hosting the "Afternoon Edition" show with Sarah Brett.

[19] He left the weekday afternoon show in June 2024[20], and now hosts two interviews on Sunday evenings in a slot called Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake, which is also available as a podcast[21].

[11] Arthanayake co-presented three series of BBC2's Asian music arts and culture show – Desi DNA alongside Adil Ray and Anita Rani since 2004[11] and he interviewed Karsh Kale, Padma Lakshmi, Nerm, Outlandish and DJ Pathaan, as well as presenting special features on Jay Sean, Ms Scandalous and Freeform Five.

[11] In 2010, Nihal appeared on BBC2's Celebrity Masterchef,[22] but did not get past the first round, after cooking a Thai chicken curry on rosti for the Invention Test.

Following the success of the Radio 1 show, Arthanayake launched his own club night called Bombay Bronx in May 2004 as an opportunity to showcase his love of rap music – but with a distinctly Asian perspective.

Internationally, he has performed in Bangladesh, Dubai, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand and toured the U.S. with Bobby Friction and Raghav.

[citation needed] Nihal also appeared on the BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk on 1 May 2010 alongside Tom Watt, John Rawling and Kevin Bridges.