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Doechii

Jaylah Hickmon won Best Rap Album at the 2025 Grammys for a mixtape, which had never been done, and became only the third woman to take the category in its history. She had been releasing music for five years at that point and was largely unknown outside the internet.

Early life and origins in Tampa

She was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, in a Christian single-parent household, and was pushed toward the arts by her mother — dance, gymnastics and acting before poetry and music took over. Her stated influences run from Paramore to OutKast to Nicki Minaj, which is an unusually wide set and audible in the work.

How she got started

"Yucky Blucky Fruitcake" in 2020 was the song that travelled, a conversational, self-deprecating track that circulated on TikTok. She signed to Top Dawg Entertainment — the label behind Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q — and became its first female rapper.

Alligator Bites Never Heal

Released in 2024 as a mixtape rather than an album, it was her first release to reach the Billboard 200 top ten and won Best Rap Album at the 67th Grammys in February 2025. She is the third woman to win it, after Lauryn Hill and Cardi B, and the first artist of any gender to win it with a mixtape. Cardi B presented the award.

Notable songs

"Denial Is a River", "Anxiety", "Nissan Altima" and "Yucky Blucky Fruitcake". "Anxiety" became a genuine crossover hit in 2025.

What she is known for musically

Structural restlessness. She switches flow, register and character repeatedly inside a single track, and the writing is confessional in a way that is closer to theatre than to conventional rap autobiography. Her live performances lean heavily on choreography and staging.

Where she is now

She took Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2025 BET Awards and picked up six further Grammy nominations for the 2026 ceremony, driven by "Anxiety" and the continued reach of the mixtape. She is the most decorated new rapper of the decade so far.

Signing to Top Dawg

TDE is the label behind Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and SZA, and had never signed a female rapper before her. The label's reputation for slow, protective artist development is visible in her trajectory: four years passed between signing and the release that broke her.

Why the mixtape win mattered

Best Rap Album had never gone to a mixtape. The Recording Academy had spent a decade being criticised for failing to recognise how rap actually gets released, and the award going to a free-format project by an unsigned-adjacent artist was read across the industry as an overdue correction rather than a one-off.

Live performance

Her Grammy performance and subsequent festival sets lean heavily on choreography, costume and staging, closer to a theatrical production than a rap set. She trained in dance and gymnastics as a child and uses it.

What comes next

Six nominations at the 2026 ceremony, a Best Female Hip Hop Artist win at the 2025 BET Awards, and a crossover hit in "Anxiety". The open question is whether she follows the mixtape with a conventional studio album, which she has been publicly noncommittal about.

Frequently asked

Where is Doechii from?

She was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, in a Christian single-parent household, and was pushed toward the arts by her mother — dance, gymnastics and acting before poetry and music took over.

What albums has Doechii released?

Best Rap Album had never gone to a mixtape. The Recording Academy had spent a decade being criticised for failing to recognise how rap actually gets released, and the award going to a free-format project by an unsigned-adjacent artist was read across the industry as an overdue correction rather than a one-off.