Malaysian Artist Moghul Miz Has Dropped His Debut Rap-Guitar EP 'Rasam & Rice'

Rasam and rice is an experience. As soon as freshly cooked rice hits your plate, steam wafts up, smelling like only freshly cooked rice can. Then you make a perfect well in the centre of your mound of rice, a dam for the curry that’s about to come. Then comes the rasam, peppery, watery, tangy goodness. And with a splash of ghee on top? Oh man, those are the dreams that come to you when you’re sleeping comfortably in bed, having left all your worries behind.

For Malaysian artist Moghul Miz, rasam rice, which is also the title of his debut EP, goes beyond just being his favourite meal. “Every household makes their rasam differently, and my mum’s rasam is something I’ve never tasted anywhere else. That idea stuck with me because it’s the same with music. There are so many of us out here making music, rapping, but my music can only be made by me. I don’t sound like anybody, and nobody sounds like me,” he says, reflecting on the symbolism behind naming his EP after the legendary South Indian combination.

Sonically, Miz occupies a space that resists easy categorisation. Speaking about his earliest influences, the rapper and guitarist says, “If you really want a picture, it’s like Kanye West and Carlos Santana had a kid who grew up in Malaysia. That’s the DNA. The raps are meant to make you feel like you can do anything in this world. And the guitar does something else entirely. You know that feeling when you watch Carlos Santana or Jimi Hendrix live on YouTube? You just feel something in your chest before you even understand why.”

That blend, rap that feels expansive and self-assured, paired with guitar work that leans into emotion and instinct, forms the core of his sound.This duality,isn’t something he consciously separates. Instead, it functions as two halves of the same voice. “The rap is what I have to say,” he explains, “and the guitar is how I feel about it.” Where the lyrics engage the mind, the guitar moves through something more instinctive, often expressing what words can’t. The interplay between the two creates a dynamic where one prepares you for the other. 

The EP was co-created with LANG and MISTER TWO FIVE, expanding its perspective and scale. Tracks like Emperor’s New Groove bring together what he calls the “brown royalty of Malaysia,” signalling a collective moment within a wider creative community. The dream is to actually take this song on the road, Canada, India, wherever the brown boys are. Everyone on that track can hold a room on their own. Together? That’s a different thing entirely. 

Rasam & Rice is about synthesis, of influences, mediums, and identities. Familiar ingredients, brought together in a way that feels entirely new. Much like the meal it’s named after, you recognise its components. But the way it comes together, the way it stays with you, that’s where it becomes something distinctly his. The sequencing, the emotional pacing, the push and pull between confidence and vulnerability, it all works toward a kind of aftertaste. There’s also something radical in how personal it allows itself to be without becoming insular. You may not have grown up with the same meal, the same memories, the same references. But you understand the idea of something that is yours in a way nothing else can be, and Moghul Miz is inviting his audience into this world. Familiar ingredients, brought together in a way that feels entirely new. Much like the meal it’s named after, you recognise its components. But the way it comes together, the way it stays with you, that’s where it becomes something distinctly his.

Listen to his EP 'Rasam & Rice' below and follow the artist on Instagram here.

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