The hardest out
“the hardest out” is what Kendrick Lamar deemed African-American female rapper Doechii on his Instagram story on October 17th, 2024, reposting a photo of her recent album cover. When a 17-time Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner like Kendrick Lamar compliments someone’s game, then there’s a level of artistry to them that certainly stands out. But what does one renowned artist’s applause mean for Doechii, and does the rest of the industry feel the same about the upcoming rap-star? The Recording Academy’s tri-nomination of Doechii for this year’s Grammys reflects their answer– yes. Listening to her most recent mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal as I write this article, I must agree that her unique sound is quite deserving.
26-year-old Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, known professionally as Doechii, was nominated for Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Album. She makes history as the first female artist to receive a nomination for a mixtape under the last category. The mixtape debuted at #124 on the Billboard 200, selling 11,000 units its first week of August 30 to September 6, 2024 (X). Though it’s not simply the numbers that earn nominations, critical acclaim, and the respect of her peers. It’s more the quality.
High Quality Hits
The quality of Doechii’s music is top-tier. Journalists, social media users and lovers of the genre respect her wordplay and themes. The tracks on her nominated album reference the more genuine themes of healing from past troubles, being cheated on, finding balance between artistry and her future, and being a dark-skinned black woman, while also using humor and confidence-boosting tracks to settle in the cracks of the heavy topics. Some people compare her ambidexterity and impressive dual-yield of both humorous and serious topics to that of Tyler,The Creator, whose album she featured on in late October of this year. Many fans claim her verse was the “best feature on the album,” as an example of how grossly talented and respected she is.
High Quality Performances
Moreover, the quality of her performances is just as noteworthy. “I’m very late to the Doechii party but this performance hooked me, start to finish,” Reddit user messiaens commented under a post of Doechii’s “DENIAL IS A RIVER” & “BOILED PEANUTS.” She struck her audience with her self-choreographed dance and her aberrant hairstyling. The one-of-a-kind hairstyle is remarkable in itself: Doechii’s cornrows are braided into the ends of two backup dancers. As the triplet performs on The Late Stage with Stephen Colbert, the genius hairstyling brings an entire new unison to their dance. Its perversity may catch your eye first, but her confident choreography and live rapping will have you stay. People further complimented her live rapping skills in her Tiny Desk feature, a video series hosted by NPR Music in a small, cozy space with nothing more than a band, a microphone, and a desk– no form of Autotune is permitted. A talent for live performance is required, and Doechii really showcases just that in her feature.
What is admirable about Doechii is her completely unique style, in terms of music, performance, and fashion. Reaching for the crown in an already competitive environment such as the music industry is a venture in itself, but especially for a female. There’s an assumed unseriousness, or an emphasis on body image and sex appeal for women who step into the rap game. We’ve seen this time and time again with artists like Ice Spice, as a recent example, who’s credibility as an artist is very fragile; it ebbs and flows after one tiny onstage mistake or one unpopular styling. The world is quick to call female rappers untalented. But there’s this undeniable, self-assured power to Doechii and the themes she excites to share that can hopefully overcome that gender bias. The Grammy Nominations can be a harbinger of the industry taking her seriously and respecting her craft, outside of her sex.
Maybe it was the Grammy nominations that signified the rise of the next superstar. Maybe it was her VMAs performance with Katy Perry early in September, or maybe it was Kendrick’s three-word applause that gained her industry-wide respect. Her supporters may have come in many different points in her career, but one thing for certain is that her renown is only proliferating. The nomination of Best New Artist compliments her feats as a booming rookie, and we can only hope that she wins the category along with her other nominations to solidify it.
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