Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, more famously known as Doechii, has been in and around the studio since she was young and still in Tampa, Florida. With the heavy influences of both her father and uncle being involved in the music industry, she has a deep digital footprint that traces back to 2016 when she released her first song on SoundCloud called “Girls” under the name “Iamdoechii.”
After years of working practically alone to build her career from the ground up, she is finally receiving the recognition she deserves as a talented rap artist. At the 2025 Grammys, she was nominated for four different categories and won her first Grammy for Best Rap Album for “ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL,” making her the third woman to win this category after Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. The win caused an uproar in the Hip Hop community with discussions that she did not deserve this recognition and that there were other male rappers who created better projects.
“I don’t wanna make this long, but this category was introduced in 1989, and only two women have won — Lauryn Hill — wait, three women have won! Lauryn Hill, Cardi B and Doechii!” the rapper stated in her acceptance speech.
She was grateful and shocked that she won, demonstrating that her hard work of 10-plus years has paid off.
With this “sudden” rise to fame, the talk of Doechii being an industry plant started to surface because the love and fame she is receiving seemingly came out of nowhere. In reality, she has been true to this, not new to this, and her music, style and personality are being pushed to a more mainstream light.
Her authenticity is clearly shown throughout her discography when she puts her heart and soul into not only her music but projects she works on for years at a time, perfecting her craft.
Starting with her EP “Oh The Places You’ll Go” in 2020, which took inspiration from “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” the album is a reflection on her childhood and formative years that brought her to new levels of self discovery and confidence. The raw levels of emotion continued when she released “ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL” with tracks like “DENIAL IS A RIVER” and “BOILED PEANUTS.”
The narrative of Doechii being an industry plant is far-fetched and inherently incorrect. She signed to the record label Top Dawg Entertainment as the first female rapper to join in 2022. Top Dawg Entertainment has been helping her push her music and garner the attention that everybody is hating on now, as a record label should. Top Dawg Entertainment has a past of producing artists — such as Kendrick Lamar, SZA, ScHoolboy Q and many other successful R&B and Rap artists. These artists have all risen to fame over time through years of hard work from the record label and themselves, so what makes them different from Doechii?
Calling Doechii an industry plant is another way for people to discredit her work, which has continuously been done to Black women in the music industry. They might not like her songs or think another artist they have been following for years is better because they are older. Denial is a river in Egypt; Doechii is just another hard working rapper finally receiving her flowers.
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