Doja Cat’s Next Album Will Be ‘Predominantly Rap,’ Says It’s ‘Fine If People Think That I Can’t Rap’

Doja Cat has big plans for her next LP.

In a new interview with Elle, Doja opened up about her Planet Her follow-up and spoke on those who claim she isn’t a rapper in the traditional sense. Writer Marjon Carlos reports the Grammy-winner will have “plenty of opportunity to prove the haters wrong on her next album, which she tells me will be predominantly rap.”

“I’ve rapped since the beginning, and I really couldn’t even sing that well to begin with—I got a lot better,” Doja said. “I use my voice as a tool to create these worlds, and it’s fine if people think that I can’t rap.”

Discussions over Doja’s place in hip-hop have been ongoing for years, especially in 2022, as other MCs have been offering their opinions on her craft. Many find claims dismissing Doja’s rap talents to be unnecessary, but Doja doesn’t seem impacted by them. She explained she hasn’t started the album—which she previously claimed to be a double LP with production from 9th Wonder and Jay Versace—but that it’s “coming up.”

“I have been getting songs and things sent to me,” she said. “Oh fuck, I wish I could tell people! There’s some really cool stuff that I got sent from friends. They’re all working on beats, and I’m giving them notes and they know what I want, so I’m excited.”

Outside of hip-hop, Doja explained she dealt with instances in the past where she was told not to be herself, or was questioned for it. An administrator in middle school, she shared, would tell her to dress down when she tried to express herself. “He was like, ‘Get that crap off of your face. Nobody wants to see that. Why do you dress like this? What’s the point of dressing like this? You’re such a distraction,’” she said. “I never liked the way I looked. I didn’t feel like I fit in. I felt like I stuck out all the time, and I didn’t like it,” she says. “It was a strange time.”

Now Doja is on top of the world, alongside a string of talented women rappers in the industry, which she calls an “explosion of amazing female rap talent.” One rapper who inspired Doja was Nicki Minaj, who taught her about being a “businesswoman.”

“The way Nicki can carry herself felt almost alien to me, because I was kind of a little runty kid, trapped in her room, just watching YouTube videos,” Doja said. “And back then I was like, ‘Damn, that’s dope.’”

Doja Cat—who just pulled out of summer festivals and her tour with the Weeknd over tonsil surgery— also spoke highly of Jay-Z in the discussion, pointing to an interview Hov gave where he discussed “irony in rap” being a “key element” to the magic of it.

“When you take something that isn’t supposed to be what people perceive as rap and mix it in, it creates something new and inspiring,” she said. “I love the irony.”