The SZA/Doechii Dynasty: The Women Lead TDE Into New Era

Kendrick Lamar was the face of Top Dawg Entertainment. When he left in 2022, the label gave the keys to the ladies, proving to be a wise decision.

This past Sunday at the 67th Grammy Awards was a watershed moment for Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Kendrick Lamar, once the label’s biggest star, swept all five of his categories with his Drake diss track, “Not Like Us.” Although Lamar’s wins were his first since leaving TDE, the label’s current stars, singer/songwriter SZA, and rapper/singer Doechii, each took home a gramophone trophy. SZA won her fifth career Grammy for Best R&B Song, while Doechii snagged the prestigious Best Rap Album.

The night felt like the unofficial passing of a torch. Lamar’s win was a coronation of TDE’s slow but steady rise into a West Coast music empire. The wins for SZA and Doechii signaled a new dynasty dawned for the label. As the Grammys indicated, women dominate contemporary music in nearly every genre, from Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter to Beyoncé and GloRilla. But for SZA and Doechii, two talented Black women with skin tones devoid of ambiguity with defined artistic identities, to be the faces of a label mostly associated with Black male rappers is inspiring and affirming, not just for TDE, but for the Black music community at large.