Doechii says she plans to restore hip-hop to its days of lyricism

There was once a time when a person had to rap well to be considered a talented hip-hop artist. Today, however, talent is associated with chart positions, sales numbers, and how much money an artist has. Rarely these days are the words "art" "craft," or "lyricism" used when people argue who the top rappers are.

A good parallel would be if people began judging the skills of an NBA player based on the size of his salary and endorsements. But Doechii wants to change all of that and plans to restore hip-hop to the days when a rapper's skill-level was talked about more than their fame.

"When people are listening to this project, they’re really witnessing me reconnect with my roots," she told Apple Music's Ebro Darden about her latest release, Alligator Bites Never Heal. "I learned how to rap through boom bap beats, through classic beats. My first rap that I ever made was a diss track."

“With me kinda coming back to myself … I kinda re-fell in love with hip-hop and realized that there is a sense of tradition in hip-hop that I really want to represent and bring back," added the 26-year-old.

She followed that up by saying rappers need to show more introspection and relay what they're truly feeling, as opposed to putting on airs.

“There is importance in tradition," Doechii explained. "I feel like it is important for us to uphold the heart of hip-hop, which is lyrical composition, it is skill, it is wittiness, but it is also talking about our feelings, being honest about what we’re going through and connecting us as people."

" I feel like it is important for us to uphold the heart of hip-hop, which is lyrical composition."

- Doechii

In fact, Doechii said she chose to be a rapper for that very reason: to express her true self and spark discussions about real-life problems. But she still wants to cover new ground in hip-hop and be unique.

“I wanna take us back to this classic space in hip-hop and just remind people of the traditional roots of where this started and do it in my way and push it forward," she specified.