Doechii

Doechii, the Tampa rapper born Jaylah Hickmon in 1998, came up the modern way: her songs caught fire on TikTok in 2021, and by 2022 she'd signed with Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol. "What It Is (Block Boy)", with Kodak Black, got her onto the Hot 100 in 2023 and went platinum, and that same year she made her acting debut in the drama Earth Mama.

Then came Alligator Bites Never Heal, the 2024 mixtape that turned her from a name to watch into the name. It's a shape-shifter of a record, sliding from nimble, jazzy rap to R&B hooks to pop punchlines without ever losing her voice, a quick, elastic instrument that can be funny and furious inside a single bar. "Nissan Altima" and "Denial Is a River" were singles. It cracked the top ten of the Billboard 200 and won Best Rap Album at the Grammys, making her only the third woman to take that category.

"Anxiety", the bonus single, became her first top-ten hit on the Hot 100, and its video won a Grammy of its own. Guest turns with Tyler, the Creator, on the Weeknd and Playboi Carti's "Timeless" remix and with Lady Gaga have followed.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.