Alligator Bites Never Heal

Doechii may have mocked the concept of “Boom Bap” rap, but she sure is good at it. The Florida-bred Top Dawg Entertainment product made a meal out of poking fun at the idea of being a “rappity rap” rapper ahead of releasing her debut mixtape for the label, Alligator Bites Never Heal, but on the project itself, she proves adept at not only embracing and utilizing classic sounds, but also updating them to make them sound fresh.

In fact, the warm reception to the new project from fickle fans who’ve long derided or outright ignored similarly themed albums suggests that dropping the aforementioned, tongue-in-cheek “Boom Bap” as a single before the mixtape might just have been exactly the right move to get those fans on Doechii’s side. There is a sense among some fans that the “real hip-hop” purveyed by blog era holdovers and Doechii’s labelmates has calcified into self-serious stodginess; by priming her release by undercutting this perception, Doechii presented herself as a serious artist who isn’t too serious to be in on the joke.

Meanwhile, with songs like “Boiled Peanuts” and “GTFO” evoking the slinky basslines, jazzy samples, and hard-hitting kick-snare drums of the mid-90s’ best, Doechii also sets herself apart from some of her Southern contemporaries — think City Girls or Latto — while also aligning herself more closely with the backpacker-lite ethos her label has cultivated over the past decade. It’s a delicate balancing act to pull off; too far into trap and other modern production styles, and she plays into the hands of sexist critics of so-called “female rap” (or, more perjoratively, “pussy rap”). However, going too far in the other direction risked blending in with the murky sounds of fellow TDE artists like Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul and getting washed out amid samey production.

Instead, she embraces a little of everything that has made TDE stand out over the years: some of Isaiah’s introspection, some of SZA’s soulful heartbreak, some of Ab-Soul’s playful fascination with flipping the meanings of metaphors, and a bit of Schoolboy Q’s fearless experimentation. The result is a project that’s drawn exuberant acclamation from Megan Thee Stallion lovers and Rapsody evangelists alike. In an increasingly fractured listening landscape, that’s become difficult to do, but like Doja Cat before her, Doechii seems to have found the sweet spot between hip-hop and pop that looks very much like the route to future superstardom.

Don’t push play on Doechii‘s new single “Boom Bap” expecting its content to match its title. Instead of employing a Pete Rock-esque, jazz-and-breakbeat-sampling instrumental and spitting cerebral battle raps full of witty double entendres, the Florida native instead lampoons such expectations with a jokey, largely improvised vocal performance, scatting and freestyling her way through repeated chants of the title. It’s a wink at the reputation of her label, Top Dawg Entertainment, which for the past decade was largely defined by its roster of heady rappers like Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as production that favored ’90s-era styles.

Doechii, however, has done things differently since her first-ever single for the label, “Persuasive,” which employed house production and set her apart from her labelmates in some important ways (she’s also the only woman rapper signed to the label, although SZA’s pen skills have been praised as being very rapper-like). She returned to that style on recent single “Alter Ego” with JT of City Girls, putting her in conflict with Azealia Banks, but further establishing that she’s willing to do things her own way.

“Boom Bap” is due to appear on Doechii’s debut TDE mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, which is due on August 30. You can find more information here.