Doechii Religion

What religion is Doechii?

Doechii is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress who identifies as a Christian. In her 2025 Grammy acceptance speech for Best Rap Album, she publicly thanked God and credited her faith and sobriety for her success.

Doechii gained mainstream recognition after “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” and several of her independent releases went viral on TikTok, leading to her signing with Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol Records in 2022 as the first female rapper on the TDE roster. Her breakthrough single, “What It Is (Block Boy)” featuring Kodak Black, became her first Billboard Hot 100 entry and received RIAA Platinum certification. She also made her acting debut in the critically acclaimed film Earth Mama.

Doechii achieved her biggest commercial and critical success with her second mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal (2024), which debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. She became only the third woman to win the category, following Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. The project produced the singles “Nissan Altima,” “Boom Bap,” “Denial Is a River,” and “Anxiety,” with “Anxiety” becoming her first Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hit and earning the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Subsequently, she expanded her profile through collaborations with Tyler, the Creator on “Balloon,” The Weeknd and Playboi Carti on the remix of “Timeless,” and Lady Gaga on “Runway.” She has received two Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a BET Award, while Billboard Women in Music named her Rising Star in 2023 and Woman of the Year in 2025, recognizing her as one of the most influential new artists in hip-hop.

Early life

Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon was born on August 14, 1998, in Tampa, Florida. She was raised in Tampa by her mother, Celesia Moore, alongside younger twin sisters. Her father, known professionally as Snatcha Da Boss, is a rapper who recorded professionally, and her uncle was also a rapper. Doechii attended Howard W. Blake High School, where she trained in ballet, tap, acting, cheerleading, gymnastics, and soccer and originally planned to become a professional choral singer before a friend pushed her to start releasing music online as an independent artist. She experienced severe bullying during middle school, which led her to create an alter ego named Doechii at age 11. In 2016, she sold hoodies bearing the phrase “Stay woke. Stay Black” in protest of police brutality.

Musical beginnings

Doechii began writing poetry and rap lyrics in high school and was making music by 2014. She released her debut song “Girls” on SoundCloud in 2016 under the name Iamdoechii. In 2019, she released her first self-produced mixtape, Coven Music Session, Vol. 1, on YouTube, followed by her debut EP, Oh the Places You’ll Go, in 2020. The single “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” from that EP went viral on TikTok in 2021 and attracted label interest. In 2021 she released her second EP, Bra-Less, and was featured on Isaiah Rashad’s “Wat U Sed” from The House Is Burning, performing the song with Rashad at the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards, and served as an opening act on SZA’s 2021 tour.

TDE signing

In March 2022, Doechii signed to Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and Capitol Records, becoming the first female rapper on TDE. Her first TDE single, “Persuasive,” was released that same month, and in August 2022 she dropped her third EP and first major-label release, She / Her / Black Bitch. Her July 2022 performance of “Persuasive” was nominated for Push Performance of the Year at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. While promoting the EP, she confirmed she was working on her debut album with studio sessions alongside Pharrell Williams and Babyface. She released “Crazy” and “She/Her/Black Bitch” as follow-up singles in 2022. Billboard awarded her the Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2023.

Alligator Bites Never Heal

In March 2024, Doechii collaborated with Miami rapper JT and DJ Miss Milan on “Alter Ego,” a house-rap track that reset her creative momentum following a period she described publicly as “battling differences with her label and a creative numbness that broke her.” She then launched the weekly Swamp Sessions series, releasing new music weekly as a lead-up to her second mixtape. Alligator Bites Never Heal was officially announced in August 2024 and released later that month through TDE and Capitol Records. The 19-track project produced the singles “Nissan Altima” and “Boom Bap” and later included “Denial Is a River” and “Anxiety” as key tracks. The mixtape peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and was met with critical acclaim, with Pitchfork calling it her most ambitious and musically diverse release, and Variety named her 2024 Hitmakers Hip-Hop Disruptor of the Year.

The project won Best Rap Album at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, and shortly after the win aired, Doechii released “Nosebleeds” as a celebration of the achievement. Throughout 2024, she was featured on Katy Perry’s “I’m His, He’s Mine,” Tyler, the Creator’s “Balloon” from Chromakopia, and Banks’s “I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend.”

Billboard Hot 100 chart

Doechii’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry was “What It Is (Block Boy)” with Kodak Black, which peaked at No. 29 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. Following her Grammy win in February 2025, “Denial Is a River” peaked at number 21 on the Hot 100, and “Nissan Altima” hit number 73. She later appeared on Tyler, the Creator’s “Balloon,” which reached No. 56 on the Hot 100 in 2024. Her 2019 track “Anxiety,” officially released to streaming platforms on March 4, 2025, debuted at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming her highest-peaking single to date, and topped the Digital Song Sales chart. It also samples Gotye and Kimbra’s 2011 song “Somebody That I Used to Know.”

As of July 2026, seven of her songs have charted on the Hot 100. A collaboration with BLACKPINK member Jennie, “ExtraL,” also debuted on the Hot 100 in March 2025. Alligator Bites Never Heal peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200, making it her first album to reach the top ten in the United States, and also charted in the top ten in Germany and Scotland.

Grammy era

Doechii’s first major Grammy recognition came at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, where she won Best Rap Album for Alligator Bites Never Heal, becoming the third woman in the category’s history to win it since its introduction in 1989, following Lauryn Hill and Cardi B, and the first artist to win Best Rap Album with a mixtape. She was also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance for “Nissan Altima,” losing the latter to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Her acceptance speech, delivered in tears with her mother, Celesia, standing beside her on stage, went viral immediately. In it, she declared, “Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you, to tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud.” The week following the Grammys, Alligator Bites Never Heal soared to number 14 on the Billboard 200. Shortly after the telecast ended, she released “Nosebleeds” as a celebration of the win.

In 2025, Billboard named her Woman of the Year, making her the second female rapper to receive the award, following Cardi B in 2020. She also received multiple NAACP Image Award nominations, including Outstanding New Artist and Outstanding Female Artist. She appeared as a guest judge on a January 2025 episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17, with “Alter Ego” featured in a lip-sync battle. She headlined her debut concert tour, Live from the Swamp Tour, from October to November 2025. Doechii has ultimately earned two Grammy wins and eight nominations as of 2026.

Personal life

Doechii lived in New York City before the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she posted YouTube vlogs about her daily life, and as of 2026, she resides in Los Angeles. She publicly identified as bisexual and confirmed to Gay Times in October 2024 that she is in a relationship with an unidentified woman, having previously dated bisexual men. She grew up experiencing homophobia in her Southern community and has written publicly about how the LGBTQ+ community in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood and New York’s ballroom culture shaped her sound and aesthetic.

Doechii has cited Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Paramore, Missy Elliott, and Outkast among her musical influences. Additionally, at the BET Awards 2025, she criticized President Donald Trump for “ruthless attacks” in reference to military deployment during the June 2025 Los Angeles protests and stated her support for Black people, Latino people, trans people, and Palestine.