Underground Princess, a 10-track album fully curated, and creatively directed by killamisha, dropped in 2024. A few months later, she went viral for kicking a performer in a wedding dress off the stage as the crowd moshed to 2001 Warehouse Party during her performance set at Gerak Luu Fest 2024. That video clip became a pop culture moment. That same year, an online incident briefly disrupted the momentum she had built.
It did not spell the end for her. killamisha has returned with an EP titled MISS MALAYSIA MIXTAPE. “My producer, DJ Waste, came to my place just a week after everything happened,” she said. She started recording immediately. The release included “BANNED IN KL” and “SENSASI SEKSAAN KUBUR”, tracks that surprised her audience with her response — not by whining, but by pushing forward. “I just hate complaining. I don’t want to be remembered as a girl who tells a sob story. I’m a ‘young ho’ that wants to get lit. It’s about time I get back to being what I am… a tastemaker,” she explained.
Part of her comeback included the music video for “Killa Lumpur”, shot across the city at Petaling Street, Bukit Bintang Crossing, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), past midnight. She moved through the streets without hesitation, performing freely and claiming the city centre as her stage. It was both a statement and a declaration: she is here, she is present, she is unbound.
The name killamisha is familiar to many in Kuala Lumpur’s music scene, though rarely in the same way. Being online since high school — posting IG Baddie outfit checks in 2018, releasing a diss track in 2023 about a best friend who betrayed her, going viral in 2024 for posing in front of her crashed car — her image has grown into something of an urban legend. Some say they have partied with her. Others knew someone who knew her. Some have followed her long enough to separate truth from rumour.
For Men’s Folio’s April issue, themed Visionnaire, we went straight to the source, killamisha herself. She took us through the streets she knows best, showing a side of herself shaped as much by the city as by her music. Later, we sat down to talk. The agenda was simple: she wants to take the stage
KILLAMISHA IS REAL. SHE’S SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, SIPPING TEH AIS IKAT TEPI (ICED TEA TO-GO).
What’s up, Men’s Folio.
PEOPLE IN THE SCENE ARE ALWAYS ASKING ABOUT YOU. “BRING BACK KILLAMISHA,” THEY SAY.
That’s crazy. Thank you for having me. It’s actually my first proper sit-down interview.
DAMN. YOU’VE BEEN AROUND SINCE 2022.
I know. I like that it took time to find the right one to say yes to. This feels right.
IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU WERE IN THE SPOTLIGHT. HOW ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?
Still that girl! I’m doing a shoot for a magazine, I’ve got an album coming, my friends are here… life’s good. I have a lot to say.
I WAS WITH A FRIEND WHO’S A FAN BEFORE COMING HERE, WHO SHOWED ME YOUR WHOLE DISCOGRAPHY. WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THE SOUND YOU HAVE NOW?
I’m a rage beat baby. Born in that bass-heavy trap era, around 2020. That’s how I started rapping — beats off YouTube, buying some on BeatStars, just rapping over whatever I liked. Then I made a music video and dropped my first track, “No Opp Ass Bitches @ My Show” which was the start.
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR DEBUT ALBUM, UNDERGROUND PRINCESS.
That album is my baby.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT MAKING IT?
That it changed my life. I was so hungry to make it happen, so I put everything into it — curating the beats for the album, working with the producers who were game to work with me at the time. Shout out to them.
THE COVER ALBUM IS THE ONE WHERE YOU’RE WEARING A TIARA ON THE SOFA. THAT’S ICONIC.
Yeah, the sofa. I even used it as a prop during my performance set at Gerak Luu. For the cover, I reached out to a photographer who followed me on Instagram. Her name’s Amani, she’s done a lot of editorial work. I asked if she’d be down to shoot it with the budget I had, and she said yes. She was punk as hell for that.
WHERE DID YOU SHOOT IT?
Can’t tell, but we shot it underground.
“I LOVE REMPIT” FEELS MISUNDERSTOOD BY SOME.
I’m confused too, because some people thought I was trying to be funny, when I was being dead serious.
WOULD YOU SAY THE SONG IS SOCIAL COMMENTARY, OR SIMPLY PLAYFUL?
The song does have a juxtapositional sauce to it, but I don’t want it to come of as some backhanded protest against the internalized superiority people feel toward Mat Rempits. The song is simple: I’m just a baddie down for a rempit. They are very sweet.
YOU’RE A MALAY GIRL IN RAP. WE DON’T SEE MUCH OF THAT IN THE SCENE YET. IT’S INTERESTING BECAUSE THAT INFLUENCE COMES THROUGH IN SPECIFIC WAYS. YOU DON’T HEAR REFERENCES LIKE BOHSIA: JANGAN PILIH JALAN HITAM (2009) IN SONGS EVERY DAY.
I worked that into “SENSASI SEKSAAN KUBUR” on my Miss Malaysia EP! I’m so emotional right now because somebody gets it, thank you for recognising that. On the topic of Bohsia: Jangan Pilih Jalan Hitam (2009): that’s hard. Hard. I love that era of Malaysian movies so much. Evolusi KL Drift (2008), KL Gangster (2011)… all of it. I wish it’s the early 2000’s and I’m a star in it.
WOULD YOU CONSIDER BEING AN ACTRESS?
For that type of movie? Hell yea. If anyone’s working on a spinoff, call me. I’m serious. I’ll bring actress Misha. Right now, next week, anytime.
YOU WERE ALREADY AN INTERNET GIRL BEFORE ACTRESS MISHA, AND EVEN BEFORE RAPPER MISHA, RIGHT?
Guilty. That was me. I’ve been around. I was posting my IG Baddie outfit checks on Instagram around 2018.
I HAVE TO ASK ABOUT THAT ONE PHOTO OF YOU POSING FOR A FIT PIC IN FRONT OF A CRASHED PICANTO WITH A FULL GLAM MAKEUP AND ALL. WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED THAT DAY?
— insane poses (@insaneposes) June 13, 2024
Oh my god. I was on my way to the studio to record “Visionnaire,” one of the tracks for Underground Princess. I was driving and texting my friend to say I was on the way. Then I looked up and… boom. The crash just happened.
AND YOUR FIRST THOUGHT WAS TO TAKE A PHOTO?
Of course. I thought it was hard as hell. My outfit was crazy, my car was gone, and I was like, “okay, I need to call a tow truck, and my life kind of sucks right now.” So what’s going to make me feel better? A bomb photo.
THAT IS SUCH AN INTERNET BRAIN MOVE. BUT ALSO, KILLAMISHA WAS MEANT TO BE ICONIC FROM THE JUMP.
Even in the worst situations, I’m thinking, how do I make this a moment? KILLA= Knowledge, Influence, Legend, Legacy, Attitude.
WAS THERE EVER A POINT WHERE YOU REALISED PEOPLE WERE REALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU?
Not really. I’ve always felt seen. Even in school, people knew me. I was loud, I was doing things, and people reacted to me. So when I started making music, it didn’t feel like a shift. It just felt… normal, like this was always meant to happen.
IT SOUNDS LIKE ATTENTION HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF YOUR LIFE.
Yeah, but I don’t chase it. I just be myself, and it comes. I’m just a young diva.
HIGH SCHOOL MUST HAVE BEEN FUN. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU?
I was the class clown. At assemblies, they’d call my name to volunteer for things on stage. People wanted to be entertained by me even back then. Can’t deny, I do naturally put on a good show.
YOU’VE GOT A STRONG CONNECTION TO KUALA LUMPUR (KL). YOU’VE MADE SONGS ABOUT IT. SO WHAT’S YOUR SPOT? WHERE DO YOU GO IN KL?
I love my city. If there’s a G in killamisha, it stands for gatekeep. [Laughs] I’m not telling you my spot.
YOU ALSO STEPPED INTO DJING LAST YEAR UNDER THE NAME DJ AQILAH MICHA. I WAS AT YOUR SET FOR ALAM RAHSIA.
You were? I hope you had fun, that was a crazy night. I was dancing onstage and everything. That’s not the same girl as killamisha by the way.
WHO IS SHE, THEN?
When I’m DJing, I’m just on the aux. It’s more about playing and flexing my insane curation of dugem and jedag jedug that I built during my hiatus. Dugem saved my life.
YOU REALLY LOVE JEDAG JEDUG.
I do. I don’t like how people treat it sometimes. Some DJs are lazy with it. They’ll play viral TikTok songs, mix random genres, then throw in one Jedag Jedug track and act like they’ve done something new and revolutionary.
SO IT FEELS SURFACE-LEVEL TO YOU.
Not just lazy, but also how it’s treated. That sound is tied to Southeast Asia, to Indonesia and Malaysia. It has its own identity. When people useit like a joke instead of respecting it as a genre of music of its own, it rubs me the wrong way. Don’t treat it like a gimmick. If you can’t play it properly, just stick to what you know.
WHEN YOU’RE CREATING AS KILLAMISHA, DO YOU EVER RUN OUT OF THINGS TO SAY?
Never.
NEVER?
Never. I always have something to say. My pen is my vice, the beat is my ammo, my raps pulls the trigger. That’s Killa.
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our latest issue.