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Doechii at Blake High School in Tampa, Florida on Nov. 8, 2024. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nDoechii at Blake High School in Tampa, Florida on Nov. 8, 2024. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been about 270 days since Doechii<\/a> stood on the Grammy stage, accepted the award for Best Rap Album, and told the world about the city that raised her<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many people out there who probably don\u2019t know who I am,\u201d the 26-year-old, whose real name is Jaylah Ji\u2019mya Hickmon, said. \u201cI call myself the Swamp Princess<\/a> because I\u2019m from Tampa, Florida! There is so much culture in Tampa. Whenever people think about Florida they only think about, like Miami, but Tampa has so much talent. Labels, go to Tampa. There is talent there.\u201d<\/p>\n As the Blake High School graduate<\/a> prepares to play her biggest headlining hometown show to date<\/a>\u2014did A&R actually listen?<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally, the next day, I had A&Rs that I hadn\u2019t talked to in months, maybe years in some situations, calling me being like, \u2018What\u2019s in the water in Tampa? Tell me who should I be looking at,\u201d Randy Ojeda<\/a> told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. So he sent them all his long-running Tampa Mixtape<\/a>, featuring his favorite locally-made music.<\/p>\n Ojeda, 35, is an entertainment lawyer who helps artists negotiate record and publishing deals, plus contracts with management and labels. While he spends his hours these days helping artists get paid what they\u2019re supposed to, he used to work as an A&R for homegrown international distribution company Symphonic<\/a>.<\/p>\n A&R (\u201cArtists and Repertoire\u201d) is romanticized as the people at labels who discover artists, maybe at a club, before signing them to record contracts. The reality is that in 2025\u2014like baseball, and any other business\u2014data drives decision-making in the music world. Chartmetric, a tool that tracks streaming charts, social media and the box office, is now a huge part of an A&R\u2019s thought process, for better and worse.<\/p>\n Ojeda notes that while he knows he can get an A&R to listen to an artist, that\u2019s about it. \u201cIf they go any further, that\u2019s not up to me,\u201d he said, adding that he knows of a few artists who\u2019ve gained traction.<\/p>\n Sniper2004<\/a>, from Carrollwood, got big off of a TikTok sound and is distributed by Interscope. FloGo<\/a> filmed a video on the Gandy Bridge; he also just sold-out his first-ever concert this Thursday at Busch Boulevard\u2019s Fuego VIP Lounge and is is being courted by labels. St. Petersburg\u2019s Rod Wave, who once knocked Justin Bieber off the Billboard 200, has signed Tampa rapper Bigg 290<\/a> to his Mainstay Music Group.<\/p>\n Still, Ojeda concedes that he doesn\u2019t know if there were any direct signings after Doechii\u2019s huge night last February where she was nominated four times and joined Lauryn Hill and Cardi B as the only non-men to win the Best Rap Album Grammy award. That\u2019s partly because Doechii is one-of-a-kind.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only is she insanely talented, but she had that artistic vision from the very, very beginning. Even her earliest self-released music videos and EPs were of a quality that is just undeniable,\u201d he added. A&R these days is looking for artists who have great content, and who advocate and market themselves\u2014something that might be missing from some local artists. \u201cI think we have a lot of talented artists who write great music, but they don\u2019t put the whole package together,\u201d Ojeda added.<\/p>\n Jorge Brea, founder and CEO of Symphonic Distribution, knows what it\u2019s like to be on the ground floor when insane talent breaks and was involved with Bad Bunny when he was emerging out of the Rimas Entertainment group. Tampa\u2019s Five 5 Studio facilitated a meeting between Brea and Doechii. Her 2020 EP, OhThe Places You\u2019ll Go<\/a>, was distributed on Symphonic, right before \u201cYucky Blucky Fruitcake\u201d went big on TikTok.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely remember seeing a lot of that energy of wanting to do well, wanting to be a big star, but not knowing much of how to do it,\u201d he told CL. Brea noted that Top Dawg Entertainment, home to Kendrick Lamar, quickly pounced after \u201cYucky Blucky Fruitcake\u201d went viral, adding that, \u201cI think that was ultimately the best home. I think that TDE has done a freaking amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n Brea, however, did not hear from A&Rs in hip-hop and even indie circles after Doechii\u2019s Grammy win. There is endless quality when it comes to the artists that call Tampa Bay home, he said, expressing appreciation that she is flying the banner for the city. But the data-driven nature of how labels sign artists today ultimately wins. \u201cIt\u2019s not a beautiful, uplifting, empowering thing, but it\u2019s just the reality of it,\u201d Brea said.<\/p>\n Artists have more routes than ever to be independent, Brea told CL, but should make music that can get them signed, if that\u2019s their goal. Creating super fans, and finding fans outside of the Bay area, will go a long way, too. And there are more eyes on the city now.<\/p>\n While A&R might be flocking to sign artists locally, Doechii\u2019s rise did put a bit of a spotlight on what\u2019s happening in Tampa, and opened the door for music fans to talk about producers who came up locally. Jordan Patrick<\/a> is currently working with A$AP Rocky and was recently joined by Jon Batiste in the studio. Batiste recently told CL<\/a> that Patrick, a Jefferson High School graduate, reminds him a lot of himself.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d be amazed at how many producers in this area have platinum plaques and gold plaques and are are producing really big records for guys like Kodak Black and NBA Youngboy,\u201d Ojeda said, citing artists like Dxntemadeit it and Nolan Griffis (aka Nullybeats).<\/p>\n James Wood, who runs Clearwater\u2019s Executive Studios<\/a>, has two \u201cMadden 24\u201d placements and even recorded with Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Ray Ray McCloud. He\u2019s seen producers like John Lam rack up plaques for the likes of Lil Durk and Rod Wave while songwriters like Fash (aka Ryan Rivera) just submitted tracks to Drake. \u201cHe already cut the records,\u201d Wood, who also works with Plies, added.<\/p>\n Jerome Grace<\/a> told CL that while Doechii\u2014who played early shows at The Bricks<\/a>, The Ritz, and <\/a>Crowbar<\/a>\u2014drove the industry to pay better attention to Tampa, there wasn\u2019t a rush to sign artists. Grace, CEO & Head of Music Pub and the Producer Tour publishing company, said he\u2019d like to see more unity in the local scene, but loves that artists like Famous Kid Brick are a walking advertisement for Tampa. Homegrown artists, he said, always feel like they can come back to Tampa, and he hopes that one day they\u2019ll feel like they can\u2019t leave because so much is happening here.<\/p>\n \u201cDoechii could serve as a catalyst, but it\u2019s up to all of us to be able to build it all out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Doechii plays Yuengling Center in Tampa\u2014just 17 miles from 2910 E Genesee St. where she grew up\u2014on Saturday, Oct. 16. Tickets are still available and start at $28.<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Oct. 16 \u2013 22, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761064628_312_hqdefault.jpg\")
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