Killer Mike is quite the fan of Doechii, crowning the Florida-bred artist as “the leader in rap right now.”

On Wednesday (December 18), the Grammy Museum held a special spotlight event for Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal – which is nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards. The event included a convo between Mike and the TDE rapper in front of an audience, and Mike was sure to give her all her flowers.

“You truly are an artist. You’re not a rapper aspiring to be,” he said. “You’ve been an artist. You choose rap to tell a story but visually, [the cover of Alligator Bites Never Heal] is striking. It is absolutely a testimony to me that the south has produced an artist like you.”

He continued: “There are many other artists out of Florida, but you are the tip of the spear right now. I think you are the leader in rap right now.”

In addition to Best Rap Album, Doechii is also nominated for Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance for “Nissan Altima” and Best Remixed Recording for Kaytranada‘s remix of her song with JT, “Alter Ego.”

Talking to HipHopDX’s Jeremy Hecht last month, Doechii said that while receiving the nominations felt “incredible,” there was another feeling at play as well.

“I’m having déjà vu — it feels like I’ve been here before,” she told Hecht. “I feel like I’ve received this before. So I feel aligned.”

Her awards success shows validates early support from none other than Kendrick Lamar, who crowned her the “hardest” rapper in the game right now in a rare social media post in October.

Alongside the artwork for Alligator Bites Never Heal, Kendrick wrote on his Instagram Stories: “the hardest out [alligator emoji].”

Unsurprisingly, Doechii was very appreciative of the lofty praise and replied via her own Instagram page: “Thank you Dot. You the greatest.”

She later added: “Getting your flowers while you can still smell them >>>.”