AOC has always said that if Elizaveta Porodina [IG] ever moved into fashion photography, she would be ‘hell on wheels’.

Asking my AI arm to keep me straight on word usage, I’ll not derail this spectacular British Vogue [IG] August 2025 issue cover story starring Doechii, with the origin of the expression ‘hell on wheels’. Or how it morphed into a gender-specific phrase applied to women.

Except I think Doechii would probably join the affirmation chorus about ‘hell on wheels’ or ‘hell on heels’ women, known on AOC as ‘the ballbreakers’. After all, Lady [AOC’s word] Doechi, originally named Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon, donned a “Keep abortion safe and legal” tank top in her ‘Nissan Altima’ video.

Stella Greenspan styles Doechii in regal clothes from Balenciaga, Givenchy, Loewe, Simone Rocha, Stella McCartney, Versace and more. Jawara takes Doechii’s Black hair in multiple shapes with makeup by Jamal Scott. Set design by Ava Villafañe with creative direction by Raul Martinez

Vogue writer Jazmine Hughes, author of Doechii’s cover story ‘“I Was Born To Do This”: Hip-Hop Disruptor Doechii On The Year She Entered The Stratosphere’ covers a wide berth in the interview. AOC fills in background in key ways.

Life is good for Florida’s self-described Swamp Princess, who grew up in Tampa, Fla. Doechii’s accolades basket is fullup with a Grammy, a BET Award for best female hip-hop artist, a top-10 single and now as Vogue was going to press [July 15 on newsstands], a British gig as a headliner at Glastonbury.

Take a listen: Doechii - Anxiety Official Video

She was the first female rapper signed to Top Dawg Entertainment [TDE], a label known for artists like Kendrick Lamar and SZA.

‘Anxiety’ is so well done, but even better for Anne’s taste is Doechii on the Colbert Late Show performing a medley of “Boiled Peanuts” and “Denial is a River”. This girl has something to say. What choreographed delivery!

Last month, the artist headlined Washington, DC’s World Pride Festival 2025, and immediately got on a plane heading west to the June 9th BET event. There was little time for Apple News in her itinerary.

Arriving in Los Angeles for her BET appearance, Doechii was unaware of the protests going on in the city. Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard without the agreement of LA and the CA governor’s office created a fury only intensified by ICE agents riding armored vehicles and even the Marines arriving in LA to instill order.

The June 2025 LA Protests Covered 25 acres or 19 Football Fields or .001% of LA

There was no Rodney King uprising going on in LA — although the Trump Administration wants us to see the situation through this lens. LA Mayor Bass had ordered a curfew, while stressing the reality that the actual protests were confined to an area the size of a five-block area or 25 acres in a city of more than 300,000. That math conversion, dear readers, is less than .001% of Los Angeles.

Most of us understand the size of a football field, including the end zones. A standard American football field is about 1.32 acres. Therefore, 25 acres divided by 1.32 acres/field is approximately19 football fields. Got that?

Remember these stats when you hear MAGA voices saying that LA was burning — and I don’t means the winter 2025 fires from which she is still reeling.

Informed about what was happening on the ground when she landed in LA — including the fact that protesters would be on hand for the BET event — Doechii knew that she had to speak about the protests.

Her comments were directed on behalf of all oppressed people: Black, Latino, trans and those in Gaza among them — a list cited by British Vogue — not AOC:

“Trump is using military forces to stop a protest. And I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us.”
“We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear, and I hope we stand together, my brothers and my sisters, against hate, and we protest against it.”’

Lady Gaga Heaps Praise on Doechii

Jazmine Hughes reached out to Lady Gaga about music’s new ‘it girl’; Mother Monster’s response was honest and effusive.

“You don’t often see someone come out of the gate with a pen that feels immediately legendary. That’s Doechii to me,” she replied.

Gaga continued, delivering the supreme accolades that artists dream about hearing from a fellow artist of her status:

“I fell in love with her music and her raw, deeply personal perspective. The power in her words, her vulnerability, the way she rhymes with this wild mix of audacity and emotional precision — it struck me to the core.”

Doechii shares similar respect, expressing her love of Mother Monster. Read on at British Vogue.

More Elizaveta Porodina

Porodina also photographed Malala Yousafzai for British GQ’s June/July Summer 2025 issue and its GQ Heroes in Oxfordshire, from 2-4 July 2025 event.

Malala has never looked so beautiful as through Porodina’s unique vision and she emerges as a true ‘hell on wheels’ woman, especially when talking about beating men at golf. Malala is in the AOC queue and she just jumped to the front of the line, thanks to her new buddy Elizaveta Porodina. ~ Anne