It’s looking like 2025 is still going to be Doechii season. The emerging talent proved that she’s got the skills and the drive with her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, and the world has continued to take notice with her recent appearances on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Now she continues to deliver with a video for her viral track “DENIAL IS A RIVER.”
For the clip, Doechii and director Carlos Acosta take us back to classic black sitcom eras of the recent past. It’s something that she'’ been alluding to and referencing in the leadup to the song with short clips on YouTube and Instagram that also show off her acting chops. The video itself, though, contains far too many references to count (including the Family Matters-styled shows of the ’90s, the ’00s UPN shows and even the modern meta era). But she keeps things uniquely Doechii with a cast of characters that include a host of her friends (including TDE labelmates SiR and ScHoolboy Q, Baby Tate, DJ Miss Milan, Teezo Touchdown, Rickey Thompson, Earl Sweatshirt and comedian/DJ Zack Fox as “Old Dude From 2019”).
The video keeps with the song’s narrative vibe as we see its many scenarios play out for a live audience. But soon the tables and cameras are turned as we then see the set and cameras her life story is being filmed on. And just when she’s delivering the song’s final verse, the set literally blows up and Doechii’s rough-and-ready alter ego is on full display as she runs through the debris.
At this rate, the Swamp Princess should just go ahead and dub herself queen. Get into her creative comedy of errors when you watch Doechii in the video for “DENIAL IS A RIVER” below.
