Doechii says Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape was never expected to become such a success

Doechii has admitted that she never expected her second mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, to become such a hit.

The Anxiety rapper explained that the project, which dropped in August 2024, felt more like an “experiment” than something she thought would define her career.

Speaking with People, Doechii was asked if she believed the release would be her “breakthrough moment.”

She answered, “No, not at all. I wasn’t even in that mind frame. I just wanted to get my story out and say what it is that I wanted to say. It was an experiment.”

The Denial Is a River artist revealed that she gave herself a strict deadline to release the tape, and expectations were low at the time.

“I had a deadline in my head, and I was like, ‘I just feel like I have to drop it at this time, and if I don’t, I’m going to miss the mark on something within myself.’ And so I didn’t expect it to be nearly as big because right after that I was just like, ‘I’m just going to put this mixtape out, and then I’m just going to go ahead and drop my debut album, and that would be the one.’”

She added, “But it ended up becoming way bigger than I expected and pushing things back a little bit.”

Alligator Bites Never Heal debuted in the Top 10 of the U.S. Billboard 200, her first release to earn that achievement. It later secured her a Grammy for Best Rap Album, making her just the third woman to ever win in that category.

Doechii, whose real name is Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, has yet to release her official debut studio album.