When You Were Here: Rasheeda Williams AKA KoKo Da Doll

KoKo Da Doll (Abbey Crain)

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This piece is part of When You Were Here, a series commemorating trans people whose lives were taken. Rather than centering their murders, our stories incorporate memories from people who loved them to illuminate the times when they were alive—when they were here.

As a teen with a missing front tooth, Rasheeda Williams—also known as KoKo Da Doll—was never one to fully smile.

Williams and her chosen mother Bella B. Cash met in the early 2000s in Atlanta, Ga. At 23 years old, Cash of the ballroom House of Chanel was introduced to 17-year-old Williams through her chosen trans daughter Krystal "Cupcake" Brown, who was also 17.

"[Williams] and Cupcake were so close, it was like salt and pepper," Cash tells me over the phone. "I couldn't just make Cupcake my daughter and not [Williams]."

Amongst Cash's many chosen children, Williams stood out to her as a daughter who wanted more out of life than the uphill battle of being a Black trans teen girl in Atlanta. While Cupcake spent time in and out of jail, it was Williams who often encouraged her best friend to thrive—not just survive.

"[Williams] would be the voice to say, ‘You know, [there's] a better way we can do this,’" Cash recounts. "‘We don't have to do it this way.’"

Cash's son Kelvin and Phillip Houseworth, whom Cash met at Cedar Grove High School, joined Cupcake and Williams, and they all became close friends. The four would frequent Club 708, an Atlanta gay club that was a "legendary hip-hopping hotspot."

Cash tells me that despite the many children she took on over the years, Williams was one Cash saw plenty of potential in. Despite her shy smile, Williams was self-knowing and confident even as she began her transition under Cash's guidance.

"She pretty much lived up to everything that she said that she was gonna be and do. It was just a blessing to see her grow and be bigger than that shy girl who wouldn't fully smile."

Having starred in KOKOMO CITY, a Sundance Film Festival documentary and released a few songs, it's difficult to imagine Williams was ever a shy girl. According to Cash, almost two decades later, Williams was still the same in many ways.

At a mutual friend's birthday party two years ago, Williams pulled Cash aside and brought her into her Mercedes Benz. The mother-daughter duo, reunited, played their original songs to each other. Cash tells me that while watching Williams’ glow-up, she took a step back because she didn't want to cloud her daughter's achievements; Cash wanted Williams to know she did it all on her own. It's still obvious, though, that Cash is beyond proud of her daughter.

"My relationship with [Williams] meant that she saw me when I didn't think nobody else saw me. Even if her lane was different than my lane, she saw me doing things that I thought nobody else from our community was seeing me do. In that car [listening to each other's music, I thought], this is what we can do as trans women. It's not to say, ‘Oh you’re too far up in the clouds, you’re too far-fetched.’ No, this is possible. We can do this. We are doing this."

Williams’ most recent single "Bulletproof" was released Jan. 2022 under her musician name Hollywood KoKo. In the song, she raps about her power, riding in "bulletproof G-Wagons" and embodying a "presidential" level of glamor. Aside from the hard-hitting instrumentals and talks of her aspirational successes, it is her attitude that cuts through so clearly. And in case the message of the song isn't clear, she puts it plainly in five words.

"A regular bitch could never."