Doja Cat
SeFi II--
Demographics
Gender Female
Birth Name Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini
Birthplace Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Birth Date October 21, 1995
Ethnicity Southern African, Jewish
Father Zulu
Mother Ashkenazi
Nationality American
Career Rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer
Color Season Dark Autumn
Notes and Motifs
Pe popstar
Gamma sensualist
Se-Lead rapper
SeFi I--- Unseelie
SeFi I--- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
SeFi II-- Unseelie
Cat: "I am very impulsive. And I see it as a form of entertainment for the people that are reading it and watching it. And I’m also entertained."
Cat: "There’s an art to being a loose cannon, because you can be a true loose cannon, or you can be a f*cking fake loose cannon, which I feel like sometimes I am. I still am very self-aware — like, I can’t have a couple drinks without still thinking about how I look and what I’m doing. I still make a fool of myself. But at least I know what I said."
Cat: "You b*tches will never teach me how to dress and you’ll never control what I wear so get used to it."
Cat: "A lot of people think I’m not good at handling trolls because I respond to them. But that’s the art of it: I love to go to f*cking war with trolls. That’s just what I’ve grown up with; I’ve been on the internet for 1,000 f*cking years and it’s just part of me: that I need to respond. People think, 'Oh, if you’re defending yourself, you’re weak.' But I always rest on 'Everyone can suck my d*ck from the back.'"
Cat: "I really pull from everyone. I'm absorbent."
Cat: "I always knew I wanted to entertain people my whole life, I just didn't know exactly how I was going to do it until I was 16 and everything blossomed on SoundCloud."
Cat: "We need people who are open to doing something with theme, something with a cartoonish twist."
Cat: "If your only intent is to be seen, you'll never be seen. If your intent is to be happy, comfortable, genuine, and true in craft, you're destined to be noticed."
Cat: "Usually I don't like to do the same thing everyday."
Cat: "It's funny, when you have a theme so particular to cows - or it could be anything like hair or nails - when you're rapping about a specific thing, you can have more punchlines about it."
Cat: "I just started singing 'cause I had dropped out of school."
Cat: "When I was a kid, I used to wake up every single day and skateboard. All I would think about is skating, but it wasn't like I wanted to be a pro skater. It was more of just that's what I did. I also roller bladed a lot."
Cat: "If somebody wants to fight me on the internet, I will gladly join in, balls to the wall. It’s fun for me. I’m a very messy bitch."
Cat: "I don’t need to be like anyone else but myself. That sounds so corny, but there were times where I felt like a baby duck, just doing what the momma duck did. I took my own leap of faith. When I’m natural, people really f*ck with me."
Cat: "I just like to do the fun stuff. If I'm not having fun with it, I'm not going to do it for the rest of my life."
Cat: "Planet Her and Hot Pink were cash-grabs and yall fell for it. Now I can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while yall weep for mediocre pop.
Cat: “I feel like every day has to be different. I don’t like routine.”
Cat: "It f*cking sucks now that I can’t fully do my thing on Instagram Live. Now I’m being flooded with people who have these preconceived f*cking notions about me, and they come in and try to troll. Which I’m very good at handling."
Cat: "What I value the most is having a place to express myself."
Cat: "When I shaved my eyebrows off and I shaved my head, I remember thinking, ‘Get this shit off of me,’ because I needed to change something. I wasn’t working out and wasn’t really taking care of myself in the way that I wanted to. I was like, ‘I need to do something,’ so I just chopped it all off."
Cat: "People can smell when things aren't genuine."
Cat: "I think I wanted to sing, but I just couldn't because I was so shy. I didn't really know how to begin that other than like, singing in my room, locking the door, and trying to sing kind of quietly. I knew my mom would want to listen and she would probably bug me about it."
Cat: "I’m evil. I’m a mean person."
Cat: "I’m constantly being shoved down people’s throats. I would be upset if I saw somebody who has kind of been fed to me as this pop-star girl with a fat ass making it to this level of rap icon, after I’ve only been watching them do disco sh*t and pop sh*t all the time."
Cat: "Be whatever you want to be."
Cat: "When I do something, I try not to put too much of a concept behind it. I usually vibe and make songs, and whatever sounds good I smash it together. A lot of people don’t appreciate or respect that, and I understand why they don’t."
Cat: "I am kind of a recluse. I like to stay at home a lot."
Cat: "When I shaved my head, it just gave me this sense of self that was different from any other time in my life. I almost feel like 10 to 15 years younger. I feel like I’m just pushing myself out there and just accepting myself for who I am, no matter who can see me. It’s kind of like I ripped off my shell. I feel a lot happier."
Cat: "Truth is, I love everyone that is a good person regardless of what they look like, walk like, or who they love."
Cat: "I want to explore punk. But not pop-punk. I feel like we have enough pop-punk artists right now. And if there needs to be more, then let there be more, but I don’t think I’m the one to do it. I want to explore more of a raw, unfiltered, hardcore punk sort of thing. It’s just something that I’m doing for my own personal fun."
Cat: "The Internet’s horrible, and there’s a bunch of kids online that have their opinions that don’t need opinions."
Cat: “Making music, and making music on the fly. When I don’t have to do it and when it’s not my job, that’s when it really makes me the happiest.”
Cat: "I'm a bit of a tomboy, but then a girly girl. And I feel like you can be both."
Cat: "I think when I say 'weird,' it’s more just things that stick out like a sore thumb. So with Hot Pink, that wasn’t the issue for me. That wasn’t something I wanted to avoid."
Cat: "We should all learn from our experiences, but I don't think hatred is the best way to deal with ignorance."
[On her career and reaching success]
Cat: “It was just the buildup and all the hard work and seeing the vision come to life.”
Cat: "We moved from the suburbs to L.A. and I picked up break dancing when I was 10. I joined a dance crew in high school and I was battling. I also took ballet most of my life until high school."
Cat: "I believe there are talented female rappers out there that aren't one-dimensional. It's OK to be one-dimensional, by the way."
Cat: "I think I wanted to sing, but I just couldn't because I was so shy. I didn't really know how to begin that other than like, singing in my room, locking the door, and trying to sing kind of quietly. I knew my mom would want to listen and she would probably bug me about it."
Cat: "I only want to work with people I believe in and who inspire me and make me feel good."
Cat: “Do I want to do that sh*t because I have to? No! No I don’t! But I feel pressured to do sh*t like that. I don’t want to do that. I want to be home. I wanna play f*ckin’ – I wanna make music. I wanna play f*ckin’ video games.”
Cat: "You stand up for what you believe in."
Cat: “I was very into finding underground artists that rapped and people that had been around for a long time. It was maybe around 11th grade that I figured that this was what I really wanted to do. Performing and music was all I ever cared about.”
Cat: "I feel like there's a lot of pressure on artists to be 100-percent organic all the time."
Cat: “I think some people look at things and they use certain pieces of pop culture or content to cope with this really messed up world that they live in. The world can be really crazy. Some people have to find something that brings them joy.”
Cat: "Madonna once said in an interview that all she really wants is to be happy. That stuck with me."
Cat: "Even though I was born in 1995, I’m stuck in 2010, or 2004. I feel like I need to revamp my sound, but I’m also having a lot of fun, so f*ck it, who cares?"
Cat: "I actually love to party, but sometimes I’m like, 'Hell no, I’m not doing it for a week.' Or two weeks, three months, whatever."
Cat: “I don’t check Twitter as much or tweet as often because, honestly, sometimes social media is draining and brings out all of the negative things going on. It’s a place where there are bullies and people analyzing everything you post looking for something wrong, so, for me, the healthiest thing has been to step away and focus on what’s important.”
Cat: "I don't want to name my fandom, I want them to name themselves. If I'm cool with it, I'm cool with it."
[Lawyer and manager Josh Kaplan on Doja]
Kaplan: “At first it was really easy to originally compare her to SoundCloud rappers, and it was like, ‘She raps. She must be like Nicki or she must be like Cardi. I think she’s different. I’ve always seen her as more of a Lady Gaga type.”
Cat: "That's a small portion of my career, taking a moment to do something stupid."
[On releasing music on SoundCloud]
Cat: “I got like two likes but it was the craziest thing ever. I think I cried. It was insane.”
Cat: "I woke up early and did my makeup really, really crazy like an alien, because I thought it was going to be a Zoom video call, and wow, did I miss that."
Cat: "When it comes to rap I could be better. I think everybody feels that way with their own art, in all kinds of ways. But I see all these incredibly talented rappers around me, and I’m like, 'Yeah, I’m doing pop, but I should focus on my pen now more than ever.' I’m good, and I can be funny and charming, and I can do little punchlines here and there, but I need to talk about my life more, and about what’s going on."
Cat: “I said some insensitive stuff a long time ago when I was young and at the time didn’t understand how it would hurt people.”
Cat: "Yeah, there’s personal stuff that happens in my life that I don’t talk about in my music. I also kind of don’t care. I always felt like you cared about dancers, and you cared about sounds, and you’re not boring people to death with your personal life, or whatever is going on in your mind. Sometimes rappers can do that. They rap about how they’re sick and tired, and how they’re this and that. It gets boring after a while."
Cat: "I have no affinity for cows. I mean, they're cool."
Cat: "I don't check Twitter as much or tweet as often because, honestly, sometimes social media is draining and brings out all of the negative things going on."
Cat: "My big thing that I really want to do in the future is acting, and I don’t know how to get in there."
Cat: "I'm not saying I'm even half as talented or a quarter as talented as any of the people I'm inspired by, but if I hear a beat Busta Rhymes would absolutely kill, I'll use my voice to do a flow similar to his."
Cat: "At this point, I just do whatever... I want, to my detriment."
Cat: “I definitely was a kid of the internet, and now I’ve backed away from it... Unless I’m lonely or alone, and then I go on Twitter and f*cking fire off tweets for two hours straight.”
Cat: "I can sample Blink-182 but put an African vocal sample in there."
Cat: “Some people take a longer time to realize that it doesn’t benefit them to hold on to something that stresses them deeply and not learn that the world is ever-evolving.”
Cat: "I believe there are talented female rappers out there that aren't one-dimensional. It's OK to be one-dimensional, by the way."
Cat: "I don't spend my time on farms. I don't like the smell, to be honest."
Cat: "I used to be on Periscope a lot. I’d be live for 10 or 12 hours at a time. I’d be making beats, and they weren’t any good, but it was fun. I would just be yelling at and roasting people, and they would be like, 'Damn, why are you so mad?' But then some people would think it was funny and go along with it."
Cat: "With my first album it was a little bit like I was practicing."
Cat: "I love going in on people, but I stopped because with a big platform, you don’t want to hurt anybody. You have power and you’re looked at a certain way, and if you go in on people and sh*t, it doesn’t help you or them, and they can tear you down more than you can tear them down."
Cat: "I am a very messy person, and it's not by choice... I admit it, I guess it is."
Cat: "Mooo!' was one of those songs where I was like thank God people like it because I like it, too. When I made it I was having fun so I can only pull positive emotions from that memory."
Cat: “Maybe it would be cool if I just made a song about cows."
Cat: "About 98 percent of the time I’m just trying to have fun. But sometimes there’s people in the studio who are like, 'This would be a great TikTok song.' I’m not really trying to fight them and I get it, so I try to be open-minded."
[On if people approach her in public]
Cat: "People do, but it’s not that often. And also, I’m a huge hermit. I don’t want to leave my house."
Cat: “I write treatments on the plane a lot.. Because I could possibly die a horrible death. I hate flying, so when i’m on the plane I’m like 'what’s the coolest thing that could happen?'”
Cat: "I have a song called 'Waffles Are Better Than Pancakes.' If I can't be goofy, I'll go insane."
Cat: “I love making music, but performing has blossomed into something that makes me just as happy. I feel most powerful when I am fully in character onstage.”
Cat: "There’s people who can only rap, and then there’s people who can only sing. But if you can do both, you absolutely should."
Cat: "I always felt like you cared about dancers, and you cared about sounds, and you’re not boring people to death with your personal life, or whatever is going on in your mind. Sometimes rappers can do that. They rap about how they’re sick and tired, and how they’re this and that. It gets boring after a while."
Cat: “It’s a f*ckin wrap b*tch I need a whole day to hate all u f*ckin h*es for no reason.”
Cat: "I have some songs that I so want to put out that are probably six years old. They are crazy. I sampled something that I’d probably never get the rights to."
Cat: “I said something about becoming a dragon and everyone looked at me really weird.”