POP CULTURE
On her Live From the Swamp Tour, the rising rapper shows she has the skill, sharp wordplay, and drive to elevate her career even further.
Much of Doechii’s music carries a kind of intimate intensity. The 27-year-old rapper from Florida first broke out with “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake,” a track that took off on TikTok in 2021 and led to a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, Kendrick Lamar’s former label. The song is a nostalgic reflection on the long, quiet hours she spent alone as a teen. Her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal which unexpectedly won Best Rap Album uses her own shallow breathing as percussion, while her single “Anxiety” transforms panic into sound.
Her music doesn’t exactly scream “party,” but on Monday night at Madison Square Garden’s Theater, she turned her Live From the Swamp Tour stop into a full-on rave. Over a relentless 90-minute set, she performed with joyful abandon, coaxing the crowd into losing themselves in the music. Her DJ and hype woman Miss Milan mixed in bits of songs by Beyoncé, Charli XCX, and Michael Jackson, creating a high-energy, club-like atmosphere that left little room for the weight of her darker themes.
Doechii’s live performance highlights how sharp her skills are. Her rapping combines precision with a cartoonish flair, switching flows and personas in an instant. “Denial Is a River,” a biting, funny song from Alligator Bites, is a perfect example—it plays out like a back-and-forth with a bland therapist. For the live show, she staged the number with a silent film-style intro, dramatic lighting, and a feather boa. When she accidentally slid down part of the set mid-song, she barely missed a beat before picking up the verse again.
Moments like that make it clear she has the charisma and vision to be a major star, even if her catalog isn’t yet packed with front-to-back hits. Her biggest, most energetic songs—like “Nissan Altima,” “Catfish,” and “Alter Ego”—hit hardest in the room. The slower tracks, “Slide” and “Stressed,” momentarily slowed the pace. A few collaborations, including “What It Is” with Kodak Black and “ExtraL” with Jennie, felt slightly out of step with her otherwise distinctive sound.
Still, the show’s presentation made a lasting impression. Doechii performed on a set shaped like a turntable surrounded by oversized speakers. She wore a preppy corset, then switched to a lingerie-inspired look, climbing on and around a moving school desk as part of a loose school-themed concept. Her younger twin sisters danced alongside her, while celebrity guests like Julia Fox, Anok Yai, and Ravyn Lenae looked on as she strutted across their desks during “Crazy.”
“Easy, breezy, beautiful, erratic,” she rapped on “Boiled Peanuts,” addressing the pressure to create another TikTok-ready hit. Doechii has been outspoken about the push and pull between chasing virality and following her creative instincts, a tension that gives her music a raw spark. Many tracks on Alligator Bites feel more like spontaneous bursts of personality than calculated plays for chart success, which is part of their charm.
Her performance of “Anxiety,” the song that unexpectedly became her biggest hit this year, turned the track into something sultry and theatrical. As she writhed across the desk with a man seated beneath her, she reshaped the viral single into a moment of pure stage power.
Because of the venue’s strict 11 p.m. curfew, the encore was rushed. She asked the audience what they wanted to hear and had to cut “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” short. Before the night ended, though, she brought out the “antagonist” of the track—her mother, Miss Lisa—whom the crowd warmly greeted. It was a fitting, personal end to a performance that proved Doechii isn’t just a viral star; she’s an artist ready to take full command of her stage.
