Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon was born on August 14, 1998, inTampa, Florida, where she was raised. She is the daughter of mother Celesia Moore and father Snatcha Da Boss, a rapper who recorded professionally.[4][5][6] Her uncle was also a rapper.[7] She has younger twin sisters.[8] She has described her upbringing asChristian.[9] Doechii attendedHoward W. Blake High School and grew up performing ballet, tap dancing, acting, cheerleading, doing gymnastics, and playing soccer.[10] She planned to become a professional choral singer until a friend encouraged her to produce and release her music online as an independent artist.[11] In 2016, she sold hoodies with the phrase "Staywoke. Stay black." in protest ofpolice brutality.[12][13]
Doechii started writing poetry and rap lyrics in high school and had started making music by 2014. Doechii released her debut song "Girls" onSoundCloud in 2016 under the name Iamdoechii.[14]
One of Doechii's first projects,Coven Music Session, Vol. 1, was released in 2019, and her debut EP,Oh the Places You'll Go, was self-funded and released in 2020.[15][5] It was described byRolling Stone as a mix of pop, dance, and hip hop.[16] "Yucky Blucky Fruitcake", a single from the EP released in September 2020, was inspired by her readingThe Artist's Way and went viral onTikTok in 2021, earning her attention from record labels. Also in 2021, she released her second EP,Bra-Less; she was featured onIsaiah Rashad's song "Wat U Sed" from his album,The House Is Burning, which she performed with Rashad at the2021 BET Hip Hop Awards; and was an opening act duringSZA's 2021 tour.[17][18][15]
In March 2022, Doechii was signed toCapitol Records by Chris Turner and toTop Dawg Entertainment, making her the first female rapper on the latter label.[19][20] That same month, she released "Persuasive", her first single published through Top Dawg,[21] and appeared as a featured artist onDavid Guetta andAfrojack's song "Trampoline", alongsideMissy Elliott andBia.[22] In April 2022, she released the song "Crazy" with a music video.[23][24] Her second EP and her first major label release,She / Her / Black Bitch, was released on August 5, 2022.[25] Her July 2022 performance of her song "Persuasive" was nominated for Push Performance of the Year at the2022 MTV Video Music Awards.[26]
In April 2023, Doechii performed atCoachella.[27] Also in 2023, she made her acting debut inEarth Mama, a drama film directed bySavanah Leaf.[14] In the same year, she performed as an opening act on Doja Cat'sThe Scarlet Tour (2023).[28]
Doechii appeared as a guest judge on a January 2025 episode ofRuPaul's Drag Race season 17, with her song "Alter Ego" featured in a lip-sync competition. The song's exposure in the episode resulted in significant chart increases across music streaming platforms.[40] In February 2025, Doechii appeared as a feature onJennie's song, "ExtraL".[41] Doechii was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance, and won Best Rap Album for the2025 Grammy Awards.[34] She also received several nominations for the 2025NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding New Artist, Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album, and Outstanding Album.[42] In 2025, Doechii became the second female rapper to receive theBillboard Woman of the Year award, following Cardi B in 2020.[43] In March of the same year, she officially released the single "Anxiety" to digital streaming platforms, which prominently samplesGotye andKimbra's 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" and was originally a part of her 2019 self-released mixtape,Coven Music Session, Vol. 1. It had first been sampled bySleepy Hallow for hiseponymous 2023 song before Doechii's original version became popular onTikTok.[44][45][46] In May of that year, Doechii was featured on the remix of Canadian singer-songwriterthe Weeknd and fellow rapperPlayboi Carti's 2024 song "Timeless". She performed at 2025 edition of music festivalLollapalooza, during which she announced her Live from the Swamp tour.[47] Tour dates were announced on August 4.[48]
Rolling Stone's Mankaprr Conteh described Doechii's rap delivery as "animated" and her song narratives as "quirky". Her music has been compared by critics to that ofNicki Minaj,Doja Cat, andMissy Elliott.[20][49] Doechii has described her style of music asalternative hip hop,[5] and creditsBusta Rhymes for inspiring her expressive performance approach, stating, "There's so many different emotions that I feel like you don't have to emote in one way. Hip-hop gives you so much room to be animated. I'm atheater kid as well, so I like to create characters".[50]
Doechii has citedLauryn Hill as her biggest inspiration and referred to her as a hero, stating that she grew up listening toThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Hill's 2002 song "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind".[51][52] Reflecting on Hill's influence, she said, "Listening to her all the time as my influence…I feel like it built this [understanding] that I have about resonating and being vulnerable in my music even though it can still bop. It can still rock".[53] Her early viral track "Yucky Blucky Fruitcake" has drawn comparisons to the interludes onThe Miseducation for its classroom-style introduction, in which a teacher figure prompts Doechii to introduce herself.[54]
Doechii lived in New York City before theCOVID-19 pandemic, during which she published YouTubevlogs about her daily life. As of 2022, she lives in Los Angeles.[59] Doechii is bisexual.[60] She said in a 2024 interview withJoe Budden that she had recently becomesober following years of heavy drinking.[58]
^"DIY Class of 2023".DIY. December 2022 – January 2023. pp. 32–35.Archived from the original on November 10, 2024. RetrievedNovember 10, 2024 – viaIssuu.
^Vujić, Katja (July 14, 2023)."Doechii Can Act, Too".The Cut.Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. RetrievedAugust 1, 2023.
^Madden, Sidney; Carmichael, Rodney; Bulgarelli, Gabbu; Leeds, Sam (March 30, 2023)."'I'm coming to y'all with no armor'".NPR.Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. RetrievedMarch 31, 2023.
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