Tierra Whack - Whack World

Tierra Whack
Whack World
2018
Spotify

Whack World is not your typical album. The 15 tracks are each only one minute long, perfect little snip its that constantly leave you wanting more.  Tierra Whack expertly finds the one sound, one joke or one line and makes the song great and gives you only that, nothing more. It is a surreal experience through the mind of someone unconcerned with the constraints of modern pop. The blend of DIY, singer songwriter and rapper on this record is really incredible. Often you'll find a number of holes in people that wade into this genre. It sounds to soft for hip hop, the lyrics aren't strong enough to be a singer songwriter type song are the types of criticisms you'll hear, but Whack shrugs them all off and just does her. She gives you a clear picture of who she is from the first moment, her voice is undeniable. You'll get some serious The Internet vibes when you listen to this record, and while it was pitched as an audiovisual record it works just as well as an audio only recording. "Fuck Off" is a real standout on an album full of them, with some of Whack's most cutting lyrics. The thing about this album though is even though it is supremely good, it never takes itself to serious. Whack will drop into overblown southern accents, throw some audio effects on her voice at random and damn near anything in service of the song. It really feels like an extension of Prince's experimentation and freedom, a willingness to release expectations and just make something interesting.

On "Sore Loser" she takes the position as a loser ex trying to rap over a trap beat until she shifts into her own voice and launches her take down. The real genius of this album is it makes you keep coming back, you want to hear that line again or that sound so you play the track again and again. Outside of how cool this is it's also a decent plan to get some major streaming numbers. That doesn't feel like it was part of the plan though, just more of a happy accident. Tierra Whack doesn't need to celebrate hyper sexualized ideas like so many of the biggest female names in hip hop do. This makes for an album that is gentle and soft rather than harsh and explicit. There is nothing wrong with a song being overtly sexual, but it's also nice for something to be the opposite of that as well as a breath of fresh air. "Waze" has one of my favorite lines: "I was lost 'till I found my way / Eh, You can never say "I love You" too many times a day / I ain't have no GPS / When I was sick ain't nobody go to CVS / They Just wanna see me stressed.". It's a simple line but ties back to the title of the song and this overall feeling of finding your way when you are lost. There is zero fat on this album, only the good stuff and for that is incredibly successful. Don't sleep.

8.9 out of 10