‘White fragility is crazy in this country’: Rising rap star Miss Kaninna tells it like it is

I’ve been given a fascinating tip-off ahead of my interview with proud Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Kalkadoon and Yirendali woman Miss Kaninna, as she releases her new mixtape, BLACKPRINT. The follow-up to her 2024 self-titled debut EP, it’s executive produced by Melbourne multi-hyphenate Nikodimos – and he’s suggested I ask about her famous chicken congee.

It gets the exact reaction I was hoping for, as she lets out a huge laugh of disbelief. “I’ve just recently been trying to get in the gym, and I’ve found out that oats are not that good for you,” she says. “I think God gave his toughest soldiers the toughest of tummies, and I’m one of those girls that has IBS. I cannot eat anything in bulk without getting super bloated.

“I’m Chinese, and I was on TikTok, scrolling, and this woman was talking about how congee is the best breakfast to have when you wake up. I was like ‘bet’ because I don’t even really like oats. I don’t like sweet stuff. But congee, I can get around.”

Since emerging in 2023 with her searing debut single Blak Britney , Miss Kaninna has been a name on everyone’s lips. She’s toured relentlessly since, with the songs from BLACKPRINT starting as freestyles. To her, this tape is a chance to channel the energy of her live show into a project that lasts long after the curtain drops.

“I don’t have that much music out, and obviously, I’m a live musician, and so a lot of my focus is on the show and creating an experience for people,” she says. “This mixtape has been a while in the making, and I just want to get it out there so I can start working on my next, which I’ve already been working on.”

One of the highlights of the tape is the punk-tinged closer Stolen Wages , one of the most energetic moments in her discography to date. “I stopped making sad music because I’m so sick of looking at people just swaying. Making sad music is cool, but I want to see people jumping around, sweating their holes off,” she says.

Late last year, Irish rappers Kneecap brought her as their sole opener across a sold-out tour of the UK and Europe. “They go really hard, and I felt I needed a song that’s bigger than Pinnacle Bitch [her 2024 single and previous set closer] that we can end the set with.

“I wrote Stolen Wages in one sitting, and then I called [producer] Lucy Blomkamp, aka Perfectworld, and I was like, ‘I need you to interpolate this right now because I’m going to Europe in, like, two weeks.’ She was so quick. We took it on tour, and I was getting so much positive feedback about that one song.”

Miss Kaninna is one of the biggest and buzziest names in Australian rap, and she’s determined to pave the way for artists to follow. “There’s just not a lot of support for young rappers in Australia,” she says. “One of the first questions I get asked by anybody who’s not in the industry, when I say that I’m a rapper, is ‘Oh, do you want to go to America, or do you want to move?’

“And I’m like, ‘No!’ I very much want to be exported into international markets so that Australian music can benefit from it; it’s not like I just want to get up and leave.