What did Doechii say about Lauryn Hill? Rappers perform surprise duet of “Doo Wop (That Thing)” at Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival in Miami

On Saturday, March 8, 2025, rapper Doechii joined 49-year-old rapper Lauryn Hill at Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival in Miami. The duo then surprised the crowd by performing Hill's 1998 track Doo Wop (That Thing) at the event. A clip of Lauryn Hill introducing the young rapper on stage has been getting circulated on the internet. Hill said:

"I want to introduce y’all to another sister."

After the collaborative perfomance, Doechii, aka Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon, took to Instagram and shared a heartfelt post on Monday, March 10. In the post, Jaylah spoke about how Lauryn Hill had impacted her artistic journey all this while. She made a special reference to Hill's debut solo album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, which was officially dropped in August 1998.

She additionally mentioned how she used to sing Lauryn's songs in her childhood on her way to school. Talking about the aforementioned album, she wrote:

"My mom would play it from top to bottom everyday on my way to school for years. I would sing your songs as if I wrote them, imagining myself on stage. Each song deepened my love for music and my curiosity to write raps."

She even mentioned Doo Wop (That Thing), the track which the duo performed last weekend. According to Jaylah, her favorite part of the track was when Lauryn sang "Don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem."

She further addressed Lauryn and stated that the rapper had been following the legendary artist's "principles" at this stage of her career. In the end, Jaylah expressed her gratitude to the Tell Him artist. The rapper further stated that the recent experience of performing with Lauryn was "the greatest honor hip hop could give me."

The post included a series of photos from that day as well a video capturing Doechii running towards Lauryn excitedly, to hug her. Other photos of the Persuasive rapper were also shared in the series.

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Doechii made a reference to Lauryn Hill while accepting the Grammy for Best Rap Album last month

Doechii, who was nominated in three categories this year at the Grammys, won one category: the Best Rap Album. Several artists have won this award over the years including Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and several others.

While the list is quite long, only three women including Jaylah had won this category. The other two names would be Lauryn Hill, who won the award in this category in 1997, and Cardi B won the same in 2019. During her acceptance speech, Doechii named them and said:

"This category was introduced in 1989. Two women have won, Lauryn Hill... (Correcting herself) Three women have won. Lauryn Hill, Cardi B and Doechii."

In separate news, the What It Is rapper would be honored at the Billboard Women in Music Awards, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. Previous honorees for this event included stars like Madonna, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Cardi B. Hannah Karp, Editor-in-Chief of Billboard said in a statement that they were excited to celebrate the rapper.