Doechii has joined her former TDE comrade Kendrick Lamar in defending Hip Hop against those who claim it is not a legitimate artform worthy of respect.
In an interview with The Cut, the Grammy Award-winner spoke about her deep appreciation for rap music and argued that the suggestion it is not an “intellectual” genre is “rooted in racism.”
“I’m gravitating back towards things that I used to love,” she said. “The first album I ever purchased and ever remember listening to in full length was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
She added: “Old-school Hip Hop is vulnerability. I’m gravitating towards the pure skill that was incorporated. Anyone who doesn’t think that Hip Hop is an intellectual genre, I think that assumption is rooted in racism.”
Doechii also elaborated on her love for Lauryn Hill‘s debut album, saying: “The feeling that I have when I listen to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the same feeling I want some other Black little girl to have when she listens to me.
“And in order for her to have that feeling, I have to talk about my feelings.”
The “Denial is a River” star’s comments echo those of Kendrick Lamar, who also defended Hip Hop against its detractors in his recent pre-Super Bowl interview with Apple Music.
Asked about being the first solo rapper to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, he said: “It puts the culture at the forefront where it needs to be and not minimized to just a catchy song or verse. This is a true artform.”
The Compton superstar, who was fresh off sweeping the 2025 Grammy Awards, added: “When people talk about rap, man, the conversations I hear, they think it’s just rap and it’s not an actual artform.
“So when you put records like [‘Not Like Us’] at the forefront, it reminds people that this is more than just something that came 50 years ago.”
Shut up plant! Stop trying to turn hip-hop into some gay shit
In fairness, all the mumblin’, drillin’ trappin’ and twerkin’ is why people think Rap isn’t intelligent. Or an art form. Bring the lyricism, introspection, social awareness back. Because hyper-sexuality, thug culture and mindless materialism has laid waste to much of the genre
I’ve never listened to any of that shit, so that’s not why I don’t think it’s intellectual. It’s not intellectual because it’s not. It is what it is. You can overthink shit sometimes. Promoting gangbanging is definitely not intellectual. Even Christian rap isn’t intellectual. Music as a whole isn’t intellectual. In ancient times, entertainers were court jesters.
Nothing to do with racism. Just listen to most popular modern rappers and what they’re saying in their “hits”. For someone who’s not into rap like that it’s easy to get an impression that most of the genre is also like that.
Nothing intellectual about hip hop. That’s when you know folks are taking themselves too seriously.