Last Sunday’s Grammy awards were a celebration of widely known blue-chip talent: Taylor Swift was there, handing an award to Beyoncé. Shakira performed a medley, as did Sabrina Carpenter, a relatively young star who was pulled into the pop firmament last year. But the first award given out, for best rap album, went to a relative unknown, and it created the kind of star-is-born moment that award shows excel at. Accepting the award for her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal – beating legends such as Eminem, Future and J Cole – 26-year-old Florida rapper Doechii began to tear up: “I put my heart and soul into this mixtape. I bared my life,” she said. “I dedicated myself to sobriety and God told me that I would be rewarded, and that he would show me just how good it could get.”
Doechii, born Jaylah Hickmon, is only the third woman ever to win the best rap album trophy – after Lauryn Hill (as part of the Fugees) and Cardi B – and her Grammy capped a banner year. She has been making music since 2016, but in 2024 she finally made good on the promise of her early viral singles with a madcap, immensely personal album hailed by critics as one of the year’s best. Combining the sound of 90s hip-hop with neo-soul and newer rap subgenres, Doechii unpacks the trials and tribulations of young stardom – drug addiction, label disputes, the weight of expectation – with the sharpness and timing of a great comic.
