equality factor: Paying tribute to her African heritage
feature parts: Gucci Mane, Tyga
producer: Doja Cat, Yeti Beats, Tyson Trax
label: Kemosabe/RCA Records
origin: Los Angeles
LA rapper and singer Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini - better known as Doja Cat - published her sophomore album “Hot Pink” late this fall, without much of a marketing campaign or announcement ahead of the release. It follows her 2018 debut LP “Amala”, which introduced Doja as a hot newcomer in the rap and R’n’B game after she had already obtained a wide YouTube following with playful tunes like “MOO!” and “Pancakes Are Better Than Waffles”.
The title “Hot Pink” is a reference to Doja’s favorite color and a matured version of the visuals of the nude pink cover of “Amala”. For Doja Cat, hot pink represents “romance and passion, and love, and anger, and sex [...] and it was always my favorite color, so I just wanted to use something that was monumental and meant something for me”, she explains the title in an interview with ELLE.
Hot Pink represents romance and passion, and love, and anger, and sex.
Musically, Doja Cat has always been known to be in control of the entire production of a song, the process of which she often describes as “intuitive”. The album is a mix of sensual rhythms dripping into your ears like sticky-sweet honey and perfectly constructed rhymes that go from soft and playful to too fast and tongue-twisting to even try and rap along. On the first promotional single, “Bottom Bitch”, Doja Cat even brings some of her musical background of emo rock to the table as she talks about being the girl boss over a riff from Blink182. Highlight of the album is without a doubt the second promotional single “Rules”, which (alongside a trippy music video of Doja as the head of a feline mafia gang) brings a peak performance of Doja’s unique melodic flow and clever bars. Her personal favorite, and an ode to her South African roots is the Smino-collaboration “Won’t Bite”, where rap and soulful singing collides with uniquely South-African Ululating (“le-le-lay”).
To summarize ”Hot Pink” displays all of Doja Cat’s diverse talent.
From paying tribute to her African heritage to her humorous verses (like a nod to Mike Meyer’s character Austin Power’s “Do I Make You Horny, Baby?”), hypnotizing hooks and sensual beats, her sassy African aunty alter ego and the reveal of a more vulnerable side as a woman searching for love - “Hot Pink” is the evolution of Amala, as Doja establishes her status as a powerful woman in life and the rap industry.
