Rap Song of the Week breaks down your must-hear hip-hop tracks every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Doechii taps Rico Nasty for her new track “Swamp Bitches.”
Doechii has been positioned to be the next one up from Top Dawg Entertainment after being chosen for the 2022 XXL Freshman Class. Boxing in the Tampa native as a rapper would be downplaying her talents, however, because she is just as comfortable with the flirtatious singing on tracks like her SZA collab “Persuasive” as she is with delivering hard-hitting bars on “Bitch I’m Nice.”
Both tracks appear on Doechii’s new EP, she / her / black bitch, which opens with the Rico Nasty collaboration “Swamp Bitches.” In the most impressive display of her rapping skills to date, Doechii kicks the track off with snarling bars about her come-up (“Doechii bottom feeder to Doechii the Don Diva”) before switching to a higher vocal tone and ripping the beat to shreds with a motor-mouthed flow.
While paying tribute to forebears like fellow Floridian Trina and weaving in name-drops ranging from the Beatles and John Cena to Casio and SpaghettiOs, Doechii bounces off Kal Banx’s beat, which offers her the opportunity to breathe with sinister guitar breakdowns.
It all serves as the perfect handoff for Rico. Following Doechii’s lead, the Maryland rapper embraces the opportunity to laser focus on her rhymes, popping off on haters with reckless abandon while taking a moment to enjoy the luxuries music has afforded her. Perhaps the best line is a humble brag of sorts: “Got heat wit’ the Rico, that bitch started singin’ like she was on Glee.”
Though she / her / black bitch only contains five tracks — two of which were previously released as singles — the project is a strong display of the multi-faceted artistry that led to Doechii being signed to TDE. It’s also just enough to leave fans begging for more. Considering the pace at which she’s put out music since officially signing to TDE in March, they likely won’t have to wait too long for a full-length release.