Doechii is on a career high after dropping her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal in August. After receiving praise from Kendrick Lamar and scoring multiple Grammy nominations for the project, she was featured as a musical guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

During Wednesday night’s performance, Doechii performed her songs “Boiled Peanuts” and “Denial Is a River.” She was accompanied by two dancers as they sported matching Gucci and adidas outfits and waist-length braids. It also marked Doechii’s first time choreographing her own performance.

“This one is for Hip Hop,” Doechii tweeted after her performance, which fans praised. ”I felt heavily inspired by the lineage of Hip Hop and how it contributes to who I am today. This is my first self choreographed performance and one of the most important things I wanted to highlight was my connection to black women through Hip Hop.”

She credited stylist Sam Woolf and hair artist Malcom Marquez for helping her make a “symbolic art performance come to life in just a short week.” Doechii also shouted out some of her inspirations like Solange Knowles, photographer Carlota Guerrero and the late rapper MF Doom.

“This is my take on the future of Hip Hop. This is blackness. This is luxury. This is history,” she wrote.

Doechii earned multiple nominations at the 2025 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album.

“Everything is where it’s supposed to be,” the artist said in an interview with The Forty-Five. “Now that I’ve had time to settle with [the mixtape] and fans have had time to settle with it, I feel very aligned, just like I’m 100% walking in my purpose. My music and everything else just aligns with exactly who I am and where I am right now, which feels like a lesson. So in a way, that kind of makes life feel a little easy. It feels like I’m on a cloud.”

Doechii also made her NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert debut on Friday. Check it out below.

DoechiiHip HopThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert