Doja Cat

American rapper, singer and songwriter

Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini[4] (born October 21, 1995),[5] known professionally as Doja Cat, is an American singer, rapper and songwriter.[1] She first rose to prominence with the release of the music video for her song “Mooo!”, which went viral in 2018. She subsequently became known for creating music videos and songs that achieve popularity on social media apps like TikTok.[6]

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Doja Cat began making and releasing music on SoundCloud when she was a teenager. She signed a joint record deal with RCA Records and Kemosabe Records at the age of 17 and subsequently released her debut extended play, Purrr!, in 2014.[7] She released her debut studio album, Amala, in 2018, followed by a deluxe repackage in 2019, which included the singles “Tia Tamera” and “Juicy”. Her second studio album, Hot Pink (2019), reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and generated the number one single “Say So”.[8]

1 Early life
2 Career
- 2.1 2012?2017: Career beginnings and label signing
- 2.2 2018?2019: Amala and ?Mooo!?
- 2.3 2019?present: Hot Pink and breakthrough
3 Controversies
4 Artistry
5 Personal life
6 Discography
7 Awards and nominations
8 Tours
- 8.1 Headlining
- 8.2 Supporting
9 References
10 External links

Early life

Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini was born on October 21, 1995 into an artistic family in Tarzana, Los Angeles.[9][10] Her mother, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, is a Jewish-American painter.[11] Her father, Dumisani Dlamini, is a South African actor, composer and film producer of Zulu ethnicity best known for Sarafina![12][13] Doja Cat has stated that her father was absent from her childhood and has claimed that she has “never met him.”[14][15][16][17] She explained to The Fader that she did not “hold grudges against him or anything in any way, but obviously it?s a little weird” that he would actively comment on her Instagram posts about how proud he was.[11] Her father however has denied these statements, stating he has a “healthy” relationship with his daughter.[18]

Following her birth, Dlamini and her mother immediately moved to Rye, New York, where they lived for five years.[19] She returned to Oak Park, California with her single mother, where she experienced a “sporty childhood”,[20] often skating and visiting Malibu for surf camps.[4] It was during this time when she participated in ballet, tap and jazz lessons.[4] Her mother played music from artists such as D?Angelo, Jamiroquai, Tupac, Earth, Wind & Fire and Erykah Badu in the house.[19][21] She returned to Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles at the age of 11 and a half, where she lived in an ashram and practiced Hinduism for four years.[22][23][24] During this time she also took part in breakdancing classes, further joining a competitive troupe.[4] She would frequently skip school to participate in chatrooms.[25] She told Paper that she had a near-“religious” obsession with the unnamed chat room, and would still participate in it as of December 2019.[25]

Career

2012?2017: Career beginnings and label signing

Doja Cat dropped out of high school at age 16 while in junior year,[26][27] and spent time downloading beats from YouTube to create her own music.[28] She taught herself to use GarageBand.[26][4] She has mentioned that life after dropping out of high school was “messy.”[27] For the first few months, she would upload songs onto SoundCloud and quickly take them down,[27] until “So High” in late 2012,[11] which she remembers crying over after attracting 12 views.[27] She got her stage name, “Doja Cat”, from one of her cats and her favored strain of marijuana. She stated, “I was heavily addicted to weed and weed culture, so when I began rapping I thought of the word ‘doja’ and how it sounds like a girl’s name.”[29]

At age 17, Doja Cat signed to RCA Records with a joint venture deal with Dr. Luke’s vanity label, Kemosabe Records, in 2014.[6][30] She signed to them in late 2013 but the deal was finalised in early 2014.[citation needed] She has declined to comment on her connection with Luke through Kemosabe.[11] Later that year, Doja Cat released her debut EP, Purrr!, which was described as “spacey, eastern-influenced R&B” by The Fader.[7] “So High” was re-released as a single prior to the EP’s release. The song was also featured on the TV series Empire in the third episode of the first season.[31][9] She continued to release music on SoundCloud as she started gaining more attention.[citation needed] In mid-2015, OG Maco announced via Twitter that Doja Cat had signed to his label, OGG.[32] Following the reported signing, in late 2016, the two artists collaborated on “Monster” off of Maco’s mixtape, Children of the Rage (2017).[33] By then she had also started collaborating with other artists, such as her Kemosabe label-mate Elliphant, and Soundcloud-based rappers Skoolie Escobar, Pregnant Boy and frumhere.

2018?2019: Amala and ?Mooo!?

On February 1, 2018, Doja Cat released the promotional single “Roll with Us”, which entered Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart upon release.[34] On March 9, 2018, she released the lead single, “Go to Town”, which was released with an accompanying music video on the same day. “Candy” was released as the album’s second single on March 23, 2018.[35] The track would become a sleeper hit after a dance challenge on the video-sharing platform TikTok went viral in late 2019.[36] Consequently, the single charted in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, the latter having the song peak at 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it her first solo entry on the chart.[37] On March 30, 2018, Doja Cat’s debut studio album Amala was released, including the three singles.[38] She later claimed to have been under the influence for most of the production of the album.[1] NPR described the album as a “manifesto of a young woman striving to take ownership of her craft, her image and her sexuality, mixing genres like dancehall, trap, house and R&B with a healthy dose of sass and humor.”[39] Most of the tracks on Amala were co-produced by her frequent collaborator, Yeti Beats, who also executively produced the album.[40] At the time of its release, the album was largely ignored by critics and failed to chart within the top 200 selling albums released that week.[39][41] Doja Cat continued to promote the album herself on social media platforms as well as touring for the album with the Amala Spring Tour and Amala Fall Tour respectively throughout 2018 and 2019.[42]

On August 10, 2018, Doja Cat uploaded the completely self-produced music video “Mooo!” on YouTube. The single is a novelty song with absurdist lyrics where she fantasizes about being a cow.[43] The video gathered attention and praise from popular artists such as Chance the Rapper, Katy Perry and Chris Brown.[6] Due to popular demand following the music video’s viral success, Doja Cat released a single version of “Mooo!” on August 31, 2018.[44] In February 2019, Doja Cat released the single and accompanying video for “Tia Tamera” featuring Rico Nasty, which preceded the release of a deluxe edition of Amala.[45]
The re-release of the album included three new songs, including “Mooo!” and “Juicy”, the first song released by Doja Cat that was co-produced by her label boss, Dr. Luke. Her ColorsXStudios performance of the latter song from March 2019, garnered over 21 million views on YouTube.[46] A remix of “Juicy” featuring Tyga and its accompanying music video were released in August 2019.[47] Following the release of the remix, the song debuted at 83 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Doja Cat’s first entry on the chart, and ultimately peaked at 41.[41] The song would eventually be certified Platinum in the United States.[48] It led to Amala debuting for the first time on the Billboard 200 album chart in August as well.[41]

2019?present: Hot Pink and breakthrough

Doja Cat at the 2019 BET Awards

On October 3, 2019, Doja Cat released “Bottom Bitch” which was dubbed the lead single from her sophomore album.[49] The single, co-produced by Doja herself, would be noted for sampling the Blink-182 single “What’s My Age Again?”.[50][51] On October 24, 2019, she released the single “Rules” and announced her second studio album Hot Pink.[52] Hot Pink was released on November 7, 2019 to generally favorable reviews. The album would eventually peak at number 9 on the Billboard 200.[53] Her debut album, Amala, also reached a new peak on the Billboard 200 at number 138 around the time of Hot Pink’s release.[53] On December 15, 2019, Doja Cat contributed “Boss Bitch” to the soundtrack of the superhero film Birds of Prey on January 23, 2020.[54] The single entered the charts of 28 countries including United States, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

On January 28, 2020, Doja Cat’s song “Say So” was sent to radio becoming the fourth single off of her album Hot Pink.[55] The song was originally released alongside the album in November 2019, but the song gained immense popularity through the video-sharing platform TikTok.[56] Doja Cat performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 26, 2020.[57] The next day, Doja Cat released the music video for the song, directed by Hannah Lux Davis.[58] The solo version of “Say So” peaked at number five on the Hot 100, becoming Doja Cat’s first top 10 single,[59] and has so far been the most streamed song of 2020 by a female artist in the US.[60]

On March 25, 2020, Doja Cat was set to embark on the Hot Pink Tour, before it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was planned to include fifteen shows spanning across North America, including two Coachella performances.[61][62] In an interview with Nick Cannon on Power 106 in May 2020, Doja Cat announced that she would be releasing a new single (possibly titled “Niggas Ain’t Shit”)[63][64] which she previously leaked while on Instagram live. She also stated that she would be doing some “self-filming” imminently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[65]

In May 2020, following the release of a remix of “Say So”, featuring Nicki Minaj, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first number-one single for both artists.[8] The remix also marked the first female collaboration since “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX as well as the first ever female rap collaboration to peak atop the chart.[8][66]

On May 21, 2020, Doja Cat featured on a remix of Canadian singer The Weeknd’s single “In Your Eyes” from his fourth studio album After Hours.[67] On May 29, 2020, Doja Cat featured on the song “Shimmy” by American rapper Lil Wayne, which appeared on the deluxe edition of his album Funeral.[68] On June 20, 2020, Doja Cat was featured on the song “Pussy Talk”, taken from American rapper duo City Girls? second album, City on Lock. She was nominated for Best Female Hip Hop Artist and Video of the Year (for “Say So”) at the 2020 BET Awards.[69] American singer Ariana Grande stated in an interview that she is planning to release a song with Doja Cat which they recorded in early 2020.[70][71]

Controversies

After achieving mainstream recognition in 2018 with “Mooo!”, Doja Cat sparked controversy on social media when her Twitter account history revealed the usage of homophobic slurs.[72] In a tweet dating back to 2015, Doja Cat used the word “faggot” to describe hip hop artists Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, members of the musical collective Odd Future.[42] Doja Cat initially defended her past remarks.[73] She stated, “I called a couple people faggots when I was in high school in 2015 does this mean I don’t deserve support? I’ve said faggot roughly like 15 thousand times in my life. Does saying faggot mean you hate gay people? I don’t think I hate gay people. Gay is ok.”[73] Her response was met by even more backlash and Doja Cat has since issued a series of apologies for her derogatory words and deleted her tweets.[73] The controversy generated much discourse regarding the limits of “cancel culture”, the growing trend of outcry on social media resulting in celebrities being deserted and careers abruptly derailed following publicized historic misconduct.[74][72]

In May 2020, a 2015 song by Doja Cat titled “Dindu Nuffin” resurfaced.[75] “Dindu Nuffin” is an alt-right term used to ridicule African-American victims of police brutality that claim that they are innocent.[75][76] Doja Cat apologized by claiming that, though the song was meant to flip the meaning of the term, it was a “bad decision”.[77] She denied that the song was a response to police brutality or the death of Sandra Bland, calling the allegation “one of the most awful rumors that I’ve ever encountered”.[78] Doja Cat stated that, though she has previously criticized her own hair type, she does not have self-hatred or internalized racism.[79][80] Doja Cat denied a raceplay rumor that originated from a viral video of her using the N-word in a chat room.[81] She also denied engaging in online racist conversations during her participation in chat rooms, stating that “the narrative that it’s a white supremacist chat is absolutely 100% incorrect.”[78][77][82]

Artistry

Doja Cat has cited Barbadian singer Rihanna and American singer D’Angelo among her biggest influences.[1] In May 2020, Doja Cat stated American singer Beyonc? “is one of the driving forces of who I am in my career.”[78] In her early career, Doja Cat cited Japanese culture as an inspiration.[83]

Personal life

Doja Cat has stated that she “like[s] both [men and women]. I like dicks and I also like, um, I like people that I can have sex with. You can kind of have sex with anybody, right?”[84][85] In May 2020, in response to accusations of internalized racism, Doja Cat stated that she identifies as a black woman and has pride for her South African roots.[86]

Discography

Main article: Doja Cat discography

Amala (2018)
Hot Pink (2019)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Headlining

Purrr! Tour (2014)
Amala Spring Tour (2017?2018)
Amala Fall Tour (2018?2019)
Hot Pink Tour (2020; postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic)

Supporting

Theophilus London ? Vibes Tour (2015)[87]
Lizzo ? Good As Hell Tour (2017)[88]

References

^ a b c d Brown, August (October 30, 2019). “Doja Cat went viral. Now what? A hip-hop meme star gets serious, sort of, for her second act”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 11, 2020..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:”””””””‘””‘”}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background-image:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png”);background-image:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg”);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:9px;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background-image:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png”);background-image:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg”);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:9px;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background-image:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png”);background-image:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg”);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:9px;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-image:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png”);background-image:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg”);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:12px;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}

^ a b c Bashford, Erin (November 8, 2019). “Doja Cat – Hot Pink – Clash Magazine”. Clash. Retrieved November 12, 2019.

^ Platon, Adelle (March 25, 2014). “Premiere: Doja Cat ‘So High’ Video”. Vibe. Retrieved March 24, 2018.

^ a b c d e Alemoru, Kemi (August 29, 2018). “Speaking to Doja Cat, the IG Live auteur behind viral hit ‘Mooo!'”. Dazed. Retrieved May 4, 2020.

^ Myers, Jess (October 2, 2019). “13 Talented Libras That’ll Give You Balance this Zodiac Season”. Ones to Watch. Retrieved May 24, 2020.

^ a b c Tenbarge, Kat (March 21, 2020). “How Doja Cat harnessed viral moments on YouTube and TikTok to rocket to the top of the Billboard charts”. Insider. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ a b Turner, David (August 5, 2014). “LA Singer Doja Cat Drops Her New EP Purrr!”. The FADER. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ a b c Trust, Gary (May 11, 2020). “Doja Cat’s ‘Say So,’ Featuring Nicki Minaj, Tops Billboard Hot 100, Becoming Their First No. 1 Each”. Billboard. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ a b Pappaianni, Kayla (March 2, 2020). “24-year-old Doja Cat is this month’s ‘One To Watch’ Artist!”. Kiss Radio. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ Meyer-Horn, Maxim (March 10, 2019). “Interview: Meet Doja Cat, the Artist Behind the Legendary Song ‘Mooo!'”. Enfnts Terribles. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ a b c d Pache, Juliana (September 19, 2019). “Doja Cat will do whatever she wants”. The FADER. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat brings up absent dad Dumisani Dlamini with Whoopi Goldberg”. iOL. April 22, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ Wells, Veronica (April 22, 2020). “‘It’s Crazy, You Got To Meet Him & I Didn’t’ Doja Cat To Whoopi Goldberg About Her Father, Sarafina! Star Dumisani Dlamini”. MadameNoire. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat Breaks Down Her Estranged Relationship With Her Dad, Talks New Album “Hot Pink,” + More”. Radio One D.C. October 25, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat on Family Support, Making YouTube Tutorials at 14 & More (HNHH Interview 2019)”. HotNewHipHop. March 8, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019.

^ “Doja Cat brings up absent dad Dumisani Dlamini with Whoopi Goldberg”. iOL. April 22, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.

^ “Twitter slams ‘Yizo Yizo’ star for being an absent father to Doja Cat”. iOL. March 25, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

^ “The profile: Dumisani ‘Chester’ Dlamini – POWER Talk”. Power FM. November 15, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

^ a b Hughes, Aria (October 30, 2020). “Who Is Doja Cat?”. WWD. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat on Family Support, Making YouTube Tutorials at 14 & More (HNHH Interview 2019)”. HotNewHipHop. YouTube. March 8, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ Penrose, Nerisha (November 11, 2019). “Doja Cat Just Wants to Make Rap Colorful”. Elle. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ Hahn, Brian (December 7, 2018). “Doja Cat talks early MySpace rap battles, practicing Hinduism, and more on First Times”. The FADER. Retrieved May 10, 2020. “I was born in Tarzana, moved to Rye. When we moved back we went straight to an ashram, and we lived on an Ashram for about four years.” Event occurs at 0:43 in embedded video.

^ Ellis, Stacy-Ann (January 30, 2020). “Doja Cat Wants to Be Taken Seriously as a Rapper”. XXL Mag. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ Martin, Felicity (March 20, 2019). “Doja Cat is ten steps ahead of your favourite rapper”. Dummy Magazine. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

^ a b Sandra Song (December 19, 2019). “Break the Internet: Doja Cat: Reloaded”. Paper. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

^ a b Pometsey, Olive (May 1, 2020). “How Doja Cat broke the internet”. British GQ. Retrieved May 5, 2020.

^ a b c d Lyubovny, Vladislav (August 19, 2018). “Doja Cat on Dropping Out at 16, Slowing Down After Signing Deal (Flashback)”. DJ Vlad. Retrieved May 5, 2020.

^ Schiller, Rebecca (November 19, 2018). “Doja Cat: Get to Know the ‘Mooo!’ Singer”. Billboard. Retrieved May 5, 2020.

^ Chrizelda Kekana, “10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Doja Cat ? Including the Origin of Her Name”, PopSugar, December 26, 2019, retrieved February 27, 2020

^ Cho, Regina (November 22, 2019). “Doja Cat ‘Hot Pink’ Interview: Talks Sophomore Album, Working With Smino and Hip-Hop Influences”. Billboard. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ “”Empire” The Devil Quotes Scripture – Soundtracks”. IMDb. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ Cheung, Nicholas (June 9, 2015). “Doja Cat Signs to OG Maco’s Label OGG”. HYPEBEAST. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ Ivey, Justin (December 28, 2016). “OG Maco Drops ‘Monster’ With Doja Cat”. XXL Mag. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ Friedman, Michael H (March 9, 2018). “Doja Cat releases ‘Go to Town'”. Skope. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat Releases New Track “Candy” From Her Forthcoming Debut Album ‘Amala’ Due Out March 30th Via RCA Records”. RCA Records. March 23, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ “Teens on TikTok are obsessed with Doja Cat’s ‘Candy'”. The Daily Dot. November 25, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020.

^ “Doja Cat”. Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2020.

^ Valentine, Claire (March 30, 2018). “She’s About to Be Everywhere: Get to Know Doja Cat”. Paper. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

^ a b https://www.npr.org/2018/06/26/622438789/npr-musics-40-favorite-albums-of-2018-so-far-part-2

^ Garner, George (May 18, 2020). “Doja Cat executive producer Yeti Beats joins Warner Chappell Music in global publishing deal”. Music Week. Retrieved May 28, 2020.

^ a b c Mench, Chris (August 29, 2019). “Chart Climber: Doja Cat Moves Past The Meme With “Juicy””. Genius. Retrieved April 7, 2020.

^ a b Peters, Micah (September 3, 2018). “The Rapid Rise and Fall of Doja Cat in the Era of “Cancel” Culture”. The Ringer. The Ringer. Retrieved September 4, 2018.

^ Ritzen, Stacey (August 29, 2018). “Doja Cat Of ‘I’m A Cow’ Fame Tries To Defend Homophobic Comments In Bad Tweet”. Daily Dot. Complex Media. Retrieved August 30, 2018.

^ Hussein, Wandera (August 27, 2018). “Doja Cat will release an updated version of “Moo” on Spotify and iTunes”. The Fader. Retrieved May 4, 2020.

^ Montes, Patrick (February 20, 2019). “Doja Cat & Rico Nasty Collide for New Collaborative Single “Tia Tamera””. Hypebeast. Retrieved May 11, 2020.