Doja Cat

Doja Cat (2019)

Amalaratna "Amala" Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995 in Los Angeles , California ), better known by her stage name Doja Cat , is an American rapper , singer , songwriter and music producer . After releasing her debut album, she succeeded with the single Mooo! and the accompanying YouTube video of one of the most famous memes of 2018.

Life

Dlamini was born in 1995 in Los Angeles as the daughter of the South African actor Dumisani Dlamini and the Jewish- American artist Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer. Dumisani Dlamini is for his roles in the musical film Sarafina! and the controversial youth series Yizo Yizo and fell in love with Sawyer during a US stay with whom he has another daughter. According to her own statements, Amala grew up without her father.

As a child, she moved to New York with her mother , where she spent some time in an ashram . The family later returned to Los Angeles. At a young age Dlamini received ballet , tap and jazz dance and piano lessons . She was also enthusiastic about skateboarding and surfing . She began breakdancing and popping at the age of ten and was a member of various dance crews through high school. At the age of 14, she gave make-up tutorials on YouTube , but stopped doing them at her mother's request. In eleventh grade, she eventually dropped out of school and started rapping.

Career

After she began to regularly publish her own songs on SoundCloud and YouTube under the name Doja Cat , she referred a Facebook friend to the DJ Yeti Beats. The 17-year-old signed the Kemosabe label of the well-known producer Dr. Luke her first record deal. 2014 appeared with Purrr! her first EP , the single So High , brought her first attention.

Their first studio album , the self-titled Amala , was released in March 2018 and, despite three single releases, has not yet achieved the desired success. Four months later she released the single Mooo! which went viral along with the music video and was the breakthrough for them. The video feels according to Los Angeles Times on as if the comedy duo Tim & Eric "a PETA commercial of exclusively of Hentai turned Clips" and shows Doja Cat in a cow costume rhythmic dancing, rapping and eating in front of a green screen . To date, the video on YouTube has generated more than 60 million clicks and drew the attention of influential cultural and youth magazines such as Noisey and The Fader to the young artist. As a result, Amala was re-released in a deluxe version in early 2019, which in addition to Mooo! which includes two new singles Tia Tamera (with Rico Nasty) and Juicy .

In the summer of 2019, Doja Cat released a remix of Juicy with a guest post by Tyga , which reached number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 , not least thanks to social media support from Katy Perry and Chance the Rapper . After three more single releases, including the Blink-182 -sampling Bottom Bitch , she had her second studio album Hot Pink follow in November , which made it to number nine in the US album charts . For the album, she was able to engage some top-class producers and songwriters who had previously worked with artists such as Beyoncé , The Weeknd and Amy Winehouse . A remix of the fifth single Say So with Nicki Minaj reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 2020.

style

Doja Cat's music processes influences from different genres and topics and ranges between hip-hop , pop and R&B . According to Allmusic, her early work is characterized by a dreamy, meme- friendly sound and later developed in a more sexually explicit direction that is received by e-girls and e-boys . Her musical influences include artists such as Rihanna , D'Angelo , Erykah Badu , Amy Winehouse , Lil 'Kim , TLC and ASAP Rocky . Rapper Nicki Minaj is a clear inspiration not only for her music, but also for her funny, sexually open-hearted persona .

A crucial part of their sound is Doja Cat's voice, whose tone can be soft and chilled, peppy or almost hectic, depending on the track. She has mastered both crooning and rapping aggressive verse. Her texts, most of which she writes herself, are characterized by puns and sarcasm that the world calls "hip-hop dadaism ". The breakthrough single Mooo! Thanks to the catchy refrain "Bitch I'm a cow, bitch I'm a cow / I'm not a cat, I don't say meow", its success is due to allusions to songs by Kelis and Three 6 Mafia or the famous children's song Old McDonald Had a Farm .

In addition, the artist attaches great importance to the visual presentation. The imaginative music videos show them as playful, slippery androids (Cyber ​​Sex) or rebellious Skatepunk (Bottom Bitch) . In the video for her first chart hit, Juicy , she takes the game with different types of fruit as metaphors for the female buttocks to extremes. In this way she manages to combine her absurd humor with the current hip-hop trends and influences of net culture .

Controversy

Shortly after her musical breakthrough in summer 2018 plunged several years old Tweet on where they rapper Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt as "fagots" ( fagots had described). Doja Cat apologized immediately, but was unable to put an end to the controversy with her attempt to explain herself that she had used this word “about 15,000 times” during her school days.

In May 2020, singer Lana Del Rey published a message on Instagram in which she complained about criticism of her lyrics, while other musicians, besides Doja Cat including Beyoncé and Ariana Grande , are successful with similar content. Doja Cat was the only one of those named to respond with the cryptic phrase “gang sunk that dunker.” A little later, a Doja Cat song from 2015 with the title Dindu Nuffin appeared. This expression (derived from Did not do nothing - have nothing done ) is in the Alt-Right -hand scene to African-American victims of police violence to mock. After massive Twitter protests, the rapper apologized for both the song and the use of various relevant chat rooms .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	R&B
2018	Amala	-	US138 (2 weeks) US	R&B16 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: March 30, 2018
2019	Hot pink	UK38 (... weeks) UK	US9 (... weeks) US	R&B3 (... weeks) R&B	First published: November 7th, 2019 Sales: + 7,500

EPs

• 2014: Purrr!

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
2019	Juicy Hot Pink	-	-	-	UK80 silver (2 weeks)UK	US41 platinum (20 weeks)US	R&B18 (21 weeks) R&B	First published: August 15, 2019 Sales: + 1,200,000; with Tyga
	Candy amala	-	-	-	-	US86 (6 weeks) US	R&B40 (6 weeks) R&B	Initial release: March 23rd, 2018 Republication: November 21st, 2019
2020	Boss Bitch Birds of Prey: The Album	DE31 (14 weeks) DE	AT23 (12 weeks) AT	CH28 (... weeks) CH	UK24 silver (… Where.)UK	US100 gold (1 week)US	-	First published: January 24th, 2020 Sales: + 785,000
	Say so hot pink	DE33 (19 weeks) DE	AT21st gold (17 weeks)AT	CH15 (23 weeks) CH	UK2 platinum (… Where.)UK	US1 × 3 Triple platinum (… Where.)US	-	First published: Jan 28, 2020 Sales: + 4,305,000; Remix feat. Nicki Minaj
	Like that hot pink	-	-	-	UK62 (... weeks) UK	US51 (... weeks) US	-	First published: February 11, 2020 Sales: + 35,000; feat. Gucci Mane

More singles

• 2014: So high
• 2014: No Police
• 2016: Roll with Us
• 2018: Go to Town
• 2018: Mooo!
• 2019: Tia Tamera (with Rico Nasty)
• 2019: Bottom Bitch
• 2019: Rules
• 2019: Cyber ​​Sex

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
2020	To Be Young	-	-	-	UK74 (1 week) UK	-	-	First published: July 17th, 2020 Anne-Marie feat. Doja Cat

Further guest contributions

• 2014: Purple Light ( Elliphant feat. Doja Cat)
• 2015: Lord Cooler (Hellbaby feat. Doja Cat)
• 2015: Waffle House (Hellbaby feat.Doja Cat)
• 2015: In My Feelings (Skoolie Escobar feat. Doja Cat)
• 2016: Wave (Pregnant Boy feat. Left Brain & Doja Cat)
• 2017: Right Side (L8LOOMER feat.Doja Cat)
• 2019: Make That Cake ( LunchMoney Lewis feat.Doja Cat)
• 2019: 20 Below (Sam Spiegel feat. Anderson, Paak & Doja Cat)
• 2019: Equally Lost ( Tove Lo feat.Doja Cat)
• 2020: In Your Eyes (Remix) ( The Weeknd feat. Doja Cat)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2020: for the single Like That  Belgium 2020: for the single Say So  Denmark 2020: for the single Say So  Italy 2020: for the single Say So 2020: for the single Boss Bitch  New Zealand 2020: for the album Hot Pink  Poland 2020: for the single Boss Bitch

Platinum record  Brazil 2020: for the single Boss Bitch  France 2020: for the single Say So  Poland 2020: for the single Say So 2 × platinum record  Mexico 2020: for the single Say So  New Zealand 2020: for the single Say So 3 × platinum record  Australia 2020: for the single Say So

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	3 × platinum3	245,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	gold1	-	20,000	ultratop.be
Brazil (PMB)	-	-	platinum1	40,000	pro-musicabr.org.br
Denmark (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	45,000	ifpi.dk
France (SNEP)	-	-	platinum1	200,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	-	2 × gold2	-	70,000	fimi.it
Mexico (AMPROFON)	-	-	2 × platinum2	120,000	amprofon.com.mx
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	gold1	2 × platinum2	67,500	nztop40.co.nz
Austria (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	15,000	ifpi.at
Poland (ZPAV)	-	gold1	platinum1	30,000	bestsellery.zpav.pl
United States (RIAA)	-	gold1	4 × platinum4th	4,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × silver2	-	platinum1	800,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	2 × silver2	9 × gold9	15 × platinum15th

Web links

Commons : Doja Cat  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• Doja Cat at Allmusic (English)
• Doja Cat at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Twitter slams 'Yizo Yizo' star for being an absent father to Doja Cat. IOL , March 25, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Regina Cho: Doja Cat Feels Liberated and More Focused Than Ever: 'I'm So Pumped for My Life Right Now'. Billboard , November 22, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Matt Collar: Doja Cat - Biography. Allmusic , accessed December 10, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Doja Cat on Family Support, Making YouTube Tutorials at 14 & More (HNHH Interview 2019). Hot New Hip Hop / YouTube , March 8, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} August Brown: Doja Cat went viral. Now what? A hip-hop meme star gets serious, sort of, for her second act. Los Angeles Times , October 30, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Felix Zwinzscher: How this young rapper's youthful sin became fatal. Die Welt , September 11, 2018, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Lakin Starling: Doja Cat - Hot Pink. Pitchfork , November 14, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
8. ^ Sarah Jasmine Montgomery: Doja Cat Criticized Over Attempt to Explain Her Past Use of a Homophobic Slur. Complex, August 29, 2018, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
9. ^ Jael Goldfine: Doja Cat Has Entered the Chat. Paper, May 21, 2020, accessed May 25, 2020 . 
10. ^ Daniel Barna: Doja Cat Apologizes for Alleged Past Racist Remarks. Complex, May 25, 2020, accessed May 25, 2020 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK UK (with Tyga)