NEWS
Doechii‘s new tape is evoking the same energy Kendrick Lamar did with his debut project Section.80 – so says Top Dawg Entertainment‘s Top Dawg.
The Florida-bred rapper released her new mixtape Alligator Bites Never Healon Friday (August 30). Clearly, she has quite the fan in her TDE boss, as he noted the project makes him feel the same way the label’s breakout superstar did in his early days.
“@doechii Alligator Bites Never Heal out now !! What are your thoughts & standouts so far ? I have the same feeling I had when KDOT dropped Section 80,” Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith wrote in an Instagram post. “She’s 1 of those ones 4sho !!!! #TDE20 #TimelessClassicMusic”
You can view the post below.
Top Dawg isn’t the only TDE member that Doechii has impressed with her new effort, as it’s all ScHoolboy Q has been spinning as well.
“Just Here to say DOEcHii… dats all I care about at da moment,” he wrote on X the day the tape dropped.
In other news, Doechii recently revealed that she feels more comfortable in the LGBTQIA+ community, as a queer woman herself, than in the Hip Hop community.
Talking to Rolling Stone for Pride Month in June, the “What It Is” creator explained her thoughts.
“No community has uplifted me and made me feel as safe as the gay community, and ballroom culture, of course, is a part of that community,” she said. “I just feel understood in that space, and not all the time in this hip-hop genre do I feel fully embraced, like I do in this bag. I just feel safe.”
Weeks earlier, both Doechii and her “Alter Ego” collaborator JT showed their support to the LGBTQIA+ community with “love letters” on social media, as part of an initiative kicking off Pride Month.
Billboard reached out to the two rappers — amongst others — on June 1, to offer words to prop up the community.
“I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to the LGBTQ+ community for embracing me so tightly and pushing not only my music, but also championing my personal growth,” Doechii wrote, in part.
“My creative work is heavily influenced by both my Florida roots and the vibrant LGBTQ+ community … my music is dedicated to all those who have encouraged me to strive for excellence and even to those who may have doubted me along the way.”
NEWS
A$AP Rocky has revealed that it took years of persistence before Tim Burton agreed to create the cover artwork for his upcoming album, Don’t Be Dumb. The rapper reflected on how the unlikely collaboration finally came together during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday.
Going into detail about the process, Rocky confessed that he “basically had to stalk and harass him for a few years” before things clicked. He explained, “I reached out and told him I would love to hang out, play him some vibes and just connect. I ended up going to Malibu while he was on a break, and he was feeling it. I played him an early version of the album and he really liked it. That’s when I asked, ‘Do you think you might want to do the illustration for this?’ He was open to it, but then suddenly he had Wednesday and Beetlejuice 2 going on. I realized this was going to take a lot longer than I thought.”
A$AP Rocky went on to describe a moment that really stuck with him during that visit. “While I was there, I noticed a sketch sitting on the table and asked if he drew it,” he said. “He told me that every morning he and his daughter work on drawings together. He starts one, then she comes in and finishes it or changes it. It’s something they practice daily. I saw it as their bond, and to me, that felt priceless.”
On Tuesday, A$AP Rocky also released a double music video for his tracks “WHISKEY” and “BLACK DEMARCO.” Tim Burton appears in the visual and contributed multiple illustrations that tie into the project.
Alongside the release of the “WHISKEY” and “BLACK DEMARCO” video, Rocky officially unveiled the Don’t Be Dumb World Tour. The run will include 42 dates across North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom, with shows scheduled throughout 2026.
