Doechii Reigns Supreme on “Alligator Bites Never Heal”

Doechii – a fierce and fearless lyricist with a natural ability to shape-shift – became Top Dawg Entertainment's first female rapper shortly after Kendrick Lamar left the label. This could have set her up as heir to an incredibly gilded throne. It would make sense to look at her that way. The extent of talented rappers left on the roster are Lamar's friends who have established their own fields, too entrenched in those roles to occupy such a prestigious position. Although Doechii's signing was preceded by young Long Beach rapper Ray Vaughn, she quickly garnered a wider audience with the viral hits “What It Is (Block Boy)” and “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake”—a sexy, singalong tribute to early R&B with a sample of TLC's “No Scrubs,” the other a hybrid of high-energy schoolyard bar and rap over dreamy '90s hip-hop.He quickly created slots to open the tour with SZA and Doja Cat rocked Coachella and was loved by women all over black music, from Janelle Monae to JT of the City Girls.With SZA currently topping the TDE roster, it's only fair to wonder if she and Doechii will shape the future of the label's prestige.

However, with her debut full-length, Alligator bites never heal (a nod to the Florida roots of the self-proclaimed “Princess of the Swamp”), she's making herself more than an heir. She is a fully realized artist, with tremendous technical and curatorial skills. (This is one of the only recent albums worth its 19-track length.) On it, he smoothly glides through sleazy boom-bap, sultry electronica, dance music, Miami banter, and serious soul with a wicked pen. and brilliant charisma. Her varied vocal tics and beat choices are often similar to Lamar's — like her creepy and wretched “Skipp,” which plays like a spawn Untitled UnmasteredTracks two and seven – but she also sounds like a disciple of A Tribe Called Quest, Missy Elliott and Nicki Minaj.

He's also just a human and most of the time, he just sounds like Doechii. This is a feat of originality for someone so early in her mainstream career. The highlight is “Denial is a River,” in which Doechii gives an Oscar-worthy performance as both herself and the therapist in a flawless display of her quirks, relatability, and tenderness. She learns about her depression and failed relationships and defends a troublesome drug habit she picked up in Hollywood, before laying claim to “Catfish” as to why she made it there. Doechii may be sassy, ​​foul-mouthed, and dizzyingly skilled, but her kind heart is at the core of the mixtape—her fears, vices, and dreams as she becomes who she always knew she could be in the spotlight.

Early Alligator bitesshe seeks to settle any debate about her raps, with track after hard-hitting spitting beats that sound like they've been taken out of the Golden Age of hip-hop and dusted off. However, on the sarcastic single 'Boom Bap', accompanied by retro scratching from tour DJ Miss Milan, she mocks the idea that her skating ability is what makes her worthwhile. After making fart noises into the mic and following the song with some profoundly stupid scatting, he raps “Get Top on the phone/ Tell him it's all rap nigga.” It's a rather sassy reminder of her head and a nod to Lamar's head Untitled Unmastered himself. “Say it's real and it's rap and boom and bang and bounce and clap and it's house and it's trap – It's everything! I am everything!” she screams.

Throughout his emotional journey alligator bites, She addresses her label's expectations as a major source of contention for her (without exactly differentiating between TDE and Capitol Records, where she's also signed). She complains that they're “always up my ass like anal beads” and being pushed toward “TikTok music,” but she's also reverent: “Who took the ball away from Big Moo,” she says of current TDE co-chair Moosa Tiffith, which signed her, “And who will sink it?” Later, at the end of “Profit,” where he raps, “My label hates the direction I'm going, they beat my shit,” there's a recording of a call between the two of them. “I just want to tell you that I'm proud of you,” Tiffith tells her. “I love you, fuck off, I'm going crazy. I mean, be the icon that you are.” It feels familiar, like the historically contentious but fruitful relationship between SZA and her manager and TDE co-chairman Terrance “Punch” Henderson: and you see what magic came of it. Here, the result is one of the best albums of the year.