Tampa native Doechii wins Grammy for Best Rap Album

Tampa native wins Grammy

Kylie Jones reports.

LOS ANGELES - A Tampa native took home hardware at the 67th Grammy Awards, with rapper Doechii winning the award for Best Rap Album and shouting out her hometown during her acceptance speech.

The backstory:

Doechii, whose real name is Jaylah Hickmon, was born and raised in Tampa and attended Blake High School.

She released her third mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, in August 2024 with ‘Nissan Altima,' ’Boom Bap' and ‘Denial Is a River’ released as singles.

Doechii was nominated for four Grammys ahead of Sunday night's ceremony, including Best New Artist, Best Remixed Recording, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album.

Grammys 2025: List of winners

What they're saying:

When she won the award for Best Rap Album, she took the stage to give an acceptance speech and talked about her roots in Tampa.

"There's so much culture in Tampa," she said. "Whenever people think about Florida they only think about, like, Miami, but Tampa has so much talent. Labels, go to Tampa. There's talent there, OK?"

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: Doechii (R) accepts the Best Rap Album award for "Alligator Bites Never Heal" onstage during the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Maz

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Thousands of miles away, people in Tampa were proudly watching her at the Grammys.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor also congratulated Doechii in a post on X, writing in part, "Incredible to see your hard work pay off and win BIG, Doechii! Tampa is cheering you on!"

Her former teacher at Blake High School, Carmen Griffin, says she couldn’t hold back tears when Doechii’s name was announced as the winner of Best Rap Album.

"When I saw that moment where she recognized that they had just called her name, and there was a jolt and her face broke," Griffin said. "And when her face broke, my face broke."

Local perspective:

Griffin, who’s known by her students as ‘Ms. G’, taught Doechii when she was a student at Blake High School, which is known for its emphasis on performing and visual arts.

"I had Jaylah as a music theory student," Griffin said.

Griffin is the director of the jazz and marching bands at Blake High School.

"I point out in the desk in the back of the room, ‘Yeah, that's where Doechii sat’," Griffin said.

She says Doechii wasn’t rapping yet while she was in high school and was still finding her footing in the musical world.

"She came in every morning, and she spread her Mac makeup counter all over the desk and that's what she was focused on, you know," Griffin said. "And I would tell her, I said, ‘Well, honey, you look great. Come play these scales’."

Griffin says she quickly watched Doechii find her niche in singing, songwriting and performing.

She recalls the rising star’s first solo performance at the school’s ‘Night of Jazz’.

"It’s kind of high in pitch, and it's got a little bit of a rock edge," Griffin said. "And she was extremely uncomfortable with it and fought me on it. ‘I don't think I can do this’. I just told her, I said, ‘Well, you definitely can do it. Your voice is made for it. You just haven't heard yourself in that range, and you haven't heard yourself push yourself to that limit’. And I tell you, we got to the concert, and she was working the stage back and forth and, you know, the mic to the crowd stuff. I'm like, ‘Wait a minute, where’s that shy girl?’"

Years later, Doechii is still a name that’s heard in the hallways around the school.

"Me and Ms. G were having a conversation about something, and she was like, ‘You remind me of one of my students’," Sherri Richburgh, a sophomore at Blake High School said. "And, she says it frequently, like all the time. And one day, she told me, she’s like, ‘Doechii. Do you know her?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I know about her’. And then, since then, I fell in love with her."

Richburgh says she quickly grew to love and look up to Doechii, and was ecstatic when the rapper paid a visit to her alma mater last year.

"Just knowing that, like someone who is really standing here like four or five years ago is now getting Grammys," Nakylah Presha, a senior at Blake High School said.

Presha says that watching Doechii get her start at Blake High School and reach these heights, shows her that it is possible to achieve her goals.

"It was very eye opening," Presha said. "I was like, ‘Whoa, okay. So, I can actually do this’."

The rapper’s success has already begun to have an impact on young hopefuls in Tampa.

"Every time she wins an award, she's like, ‘There's always some Black girl out there watching’, and it's me. I'm looking, I'm watching," Richburgh said.

As new students continue to sit in the seats in the band room at Blake High School, Griffin hopes they remember this moment.

"They can make those correlations and associations between a star, and knowing that it started right here in this building, and in these hallways, and with these same assignments, and with these same teachers," Griffin said. "I think it all makes sense."

Doechii is the third female to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album, joining Lauryn Hill and Cardi B in the exclusive club.

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The Source: Information for this story was collected by FOX 13's Mariah Harrison. This story was reported from Tampa.

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