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I\u2019ve 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 is executive produced by Melbourne multi-hyphenate Nikodimos \u2013 and he\u2019s suggested I ask about her famous chicken congee.<\/p>\n
It gets the exact reaction I was hoping for, as she lets out a huge laugh of disbelief. \u201cI\u2019ve just recently been trying to get in the gym, and I\u2019ve found out that oats are not that good for you,\u201d she says. \u201cI think God gave his toughest soldiers the toughest of tummies, and I\u2019m one of those girls that has [irritable bowel syndrome]. I cannot eat anything in bulk without getting super bloated.<\/p>\n
![\"\u201cA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c493556cda04d1a259e2a4f5e7d96e3739114495.jpeg\")
\u201cA lot of the stuff I say in this mixtape is very much talking the truth,\u201d says rapper Miss Kaninna.Joel Thomas Wilson<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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 \u2018bet\u2019 because I don\u2019t even really like oats. I don\u2019t like sweet stuff. But congee, I can get around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since emerging in 2023 with her searing debut single Blak Britney, Miss Kaninna has been a name on everyone\u2019s lips. She\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have that much music out, and obviously, I\u2019m a live musician, and so a lot of my focus is on the show and creating an experience for people,\u201d she says. \u201cThis 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\u2019ve already been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cI stopped making sad music because I\u2019m 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,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Late last year, Irish rappers Kneecap<\/a> brought her as their sole opener across a sold-out tour of Britain and Europe. \u201cThey go really hard, and I felt I needed a song that\u2019s bigger than Pinnacle Bitch [her 2024 single and previous set closer] that we can end the set with.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote Stolen Wages in one sitting, and then I called [producer] Lucy Blomkamp, aka Perfectworld, and I was like, \u2018I need you to interpolate this right now because I\u2019m going to Europe in, like, two weeks\u2019. She was so quick. We took it on tour, and I was getting so much positive feedback about that one song.\u201d<\/p>\n Miss Kaninna is one of the biggest and buzziest names in Australian rap, and she\u2019s determined to pave the way for artists to follow. \u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot of support for young rappers in Australia,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the first questions I get asked by anybody who\u2019s not in the industry, when I say that I\u2019m a rapper, is \u2018Oh, do you want to go to America, or do you want to move?\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018No!\u2019. I very much want to be exported into international markets so that Australian music can benefit from it; it\u2019s not like I just want to get up and leave. I think a lot of people are very focused on just getting out and leaving and not building a good foundation and a good crew here in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m trying to reclaim my body, my space, my mouth and my sexuality, and uplift women to do the same thing.\u2019<\/p>\n There\u2019s no room for misinterpretation on BLACKPRINT. Across the project\u2019s six tracks, Miss Kaninna holds a mirror up to white Australia, and the double standards that permeate every part of Australian culture. From the blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it Chat My Shit to the Kobie Dee-featuring Look at Me Now to the slower-burning Mob Ties, she sounds laser focused. While she\u2019s shown off her singing on a couple of occasions recently \u2013 including singing backing vocals for Brisbane MC Nerve\u2019s Like a Version cover<\/a> of Justin Timberlake\u2019s SexyBack on Triple J \u2013 she\u2019s rapping with vivid energy across BLACKPRINT.<\/p>\n The title of BLACKPRINT is Miss Kaninna\u2019s nod to how Indigenous people across the globe, including Aboriginal people, hold not just the past in their hands but the future. \u201cI think white fragility is crazy in this country, and I think that white people really do think that black power means taking away from them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the stuff I say in this mixtape is very much talking the truth. It\u2019s not like what I\u2019m saying is crazy. What\u2019s crazy is that the Australian government continues to have a lawless land and illegally occupies this land. Me saying \u2018f— white people\u2019 is not crazy to me. Me saying \u2018f— the government\u2019 or \u2018f— police\u2019 is not crazy. That seems like a pretty normal reaction to what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Hailing from Lutruwita\/Tasmania, Miss Kaninna\u2019s community has always had her back. Her mother, Ruth Langford, is a prominent First Nations advocate, and she often seeks advice from elders in her community, including Uncle Jim Everett. \u201cTwo years ago, I was sitting on a trip with my uncle, and I was feeling a little bit vulnerable and a little bit, like, under a microscope,\u201d she recalls of one such experience.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI had been copping a lot from people saying that, you know, I\u2019m shaking my ass too much and all this stuff, and my uncle was sitting in front of me, and he said, \u2018You know, Kaninna, I\u2019m extremely proud of who you are as a woman\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started getting really upset because he was like, \u2018Women need to be able to make choices for themselves, and it\u2019s not up to men to dictate what you can and cannot do with your body and your mouth. For the last 250 years, women \u2013 Aboriginal women \u2013 have been completely objectified and completely sexualised and ripped of any human status, and now you\u2019re reclaiming that back. And however you see fit as an Aboriginal woman, we\u2019ll support you\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do,\u201d says Miss Kaninna. \u201cI\u2019m trying to actively reclaim my body and reclaim my space and reclaim my mouth and reclaim my sexuality, and uplift women to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Miss Kaninna\u2019s new mixtape, BLACKPRINT, is out now. Her national tour includes shows at Brisbane\u2019s The Brightside on September 11, Sydney\u2019s Oxford Art Factory on September 12 and 13 and Melbourne\u2019s Northcote Theatre on September 18. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n