Whack World

Tierra Whack

Tierra Whack's debut album, Whack World, is an unlikely, but ingenious, introduction to the Philly artist. This album consists of 15 1-minute long tracks which serve as a sampler of all the different talents Tierra Whack brings to the table. Each song feels like it has a drastically different style, feel, or tone, and rarely does it miss a beat. Whack packs in so much personality and versatility over the course of 15 minutes; making the strongest of impressions a new artist could make.

One of the many aspects I love about this album is how it showcases Whack's sense of humour and eccentricities. Whether its coming up with silly phrases for the acronyms of major networks on Cable Guy, encouraging people to eat their fruits and vegetables in order to outrun would be attackers on Fruit Salad, or delivering spiteful lines in an exaggerated southern accent on Fuck Off, Whack shows an incredible amount of humility by including these lighthearted and playful moments. Although, this isn't to say that Whack is above a good flex. One of my favourite tracks, Hungry Hippo, has Whack flaunting her unique sense of style and essentially bragging that she can turn any man from a pauper to a prince. "He likes my diamonds and my pearls. I said thank you, I designed it," she sings on the album's catchiest, most quote worthy hook. While still keeping things playful, Whack showcases some clever songwriting on Silly Sam in which she kicks a player to the curb while simultaneously incorporating all these great game references.

When it comes to Whack's technical prowess, she's firing on all fronts. Her rap delivery in terms of sound and flow is awesome. There are really impressive rap moments on Bugs Life and Sore Loser in which the flows get particularly speedy. Even when the flows and articulation get a little sloppy (almost approaching mumble rap) on Flea Market or on the financial independence anthem Hookers, the performances still pack tons of character to prevent them becoming too sleepy. To get a taste of Whack's vocal chops, just listen to the last track Waze. Her voice here is quite soulful and I love the heavy syllabic, almost staccato, flow on this track.

Whack World doesn't really miss. Are there a couple tracks that pale in comparison to others? Sure, but the beauty of an album of this format is that no track ever drags on or interrupts the pace. If anything, on the few tracks where it feels like lightning has struck, I wish they were longer, and that pretty much is the biggest criticism I have. The album's design, while genius, leaves me wanting more in most cases. To adhere to the one minute restriction, some songs are cut off abruptly and go right into the next idea. But Tierra Whack knew what she was doing. She wanted to make a big splash to separate herself from the crowd, and I think with this album, she definitely achieved that.