When Doechii was 11-years-old she met with a pastor who prophesied her life. He told her that she would touch millions of people with her gifts, she just didn’t yet know what those gifts were. 15 years and 10 million monthly listeners later, her abilities have become clear – the prophecy fulfilled. “I was anointed that day,” she explains. “I’m very aware that my purpose is to inspire people through music. I think that I’m meant to mirror a truth about people. That’s my purpose.”
It’s bright and early in Los Angeles but the 26-year-old rapper is wide awake. She speaks gracefully but with intent. A true poet who has known herself, and what she wants, from a very young age. When we speak, she’s seven days away from the biggest tour of her career so far. Sure, she’s supported Doja Cat, SZA and Beyoncé, but this is Doechii’s own, headlining lap of the globe. Understandably, she has a full day of rehearsals ahead of her.
“I finally get to perform new music. I’ve been performing the same singles for forever so it feels like a relief to get away from that old music and do something new,” she says excitedly. The new music in question comes from her debut mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, which was released in August to critical acclaim, with some even hailing it as the best rap album of the year.
The 19-track project is gritty, raw, playful, and astonishingly, only took her a month to make (bar a couple of “very old songs that [she] forgot about”). The meaning of the title, she explains, changes for her everyday. “I think that’s what my favourite type of art does – it evolves and changes with time. Today it feels like as long as you’re being vulnerable and you’re showing up transparently and honestly as a human, you open yourself up to be wounded in some type of way.”
Of course, the album title also references the 1.3 million alligators that reside in the state of Florida – or, as Doechii calls it, The Swamp. Born Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon and raised in Tampa, as a child she was bullied. As a result, she invented a new character: Doechii. It wasn’t until high school that she began to thrive. She set her sights on Howard W. Blake School of the Arts, where she auditioned, was accepted, and unlocked the doors to ballet, tap, singing, cheerleading and gymnastics.
It’s clear to see how gymnastics has influenced her as a performer. “The way that gymnasts train is really, really tough. It’s brutal and hard and difficult. But at some point in my gymnastic career I learnt how to embrace and really love pain. To view pain as me getting stronger and better. That caused a deep discipline that has never left me,” she says. Surely, it also made her more competitive? “100 percent. I’m super competitive. I wanna be the best.”
