The new 900 seconds, 15 song with a visual project from Tierra Whack was the best thing I saw when I woke up the morning of May 30, 2018.
In 2016 was the first time I saw her, with a full silver outfit with foil background with the caption, “WHACK IS BACK” and the only thought I had was ‘wow this is crazy’ then I heard ‘Child Please’ and I fell in love. From that point on, she gained a lifelong fan.
Whack was born and raised in North Philly and went from wanting to be a dancer to singing in the church and landed on rap through poetry that later turned into rap in middle school and attention from her fellow classmates, according to her Gary Vee interview from February 2018.
“I was controlling everything, like everybody would get ready, get their lunch, sit at the table and I’m just spitting these raps.”
In the same interview, she talks about how her mom got her into battle rap, just by seeing a group of men on the side of the street with a camera rapping and telling her that she should go out and rap with them. At this time she went by Dizzle Dizz, she went in the circle and started rapping for them and they were visibly taken aback by the wild and weird things that were coming out of her mouth. Yet, she embraced her weirdness, and she gave us the music that we love today.
It feels like so many people are making the same type of music today and if it is not the same then it is very similar. But with Whack, she is always giving you something new and experimental with each release.
With having inspirations like Andre 3000 and Missy Elliot that shows with the way she experiments with her sound and visuals, but she is 100 percent Whack. Think about it, when you are watching a Missy or Outkast video nothing is never like the last, watching a Whack video gives the same feeling.
In each of the videos to go along with the 900-second album, Whack World, each section of the video is different to match the song.
In the opener, you do not even see her face, then she pushes her hood that reads ‘Whack’ back to reveal half of a swollen face. It looks like she cannot even move her mouth. Then going into a scene where she is grooming a stuffed dog. None of it seems to make sense, but it makes perfect sense.
Even with her 2017 release of ‘Mumbo Jumbo’, it is rather confusing. Whack is not even saying any real words rather than singing a melody over a track and it is something that you won’t get tired of, it’s infectious. The visual for the song was shocking as her first official release.
During the video you see her sitting in the dentist chair struggling to sing along with her song. In the end, you see her on the street with a plastered smile on her face and everyone she is walking past has one too. I watch it trying to figure it out, but maybe that’s it. It is not meant to be figured out, it is up to you and your interpretation.
Watching her all the way from first hearing her at ‘Child Please’ to ‘Waze’ at the end of Whack World, it has been phenomenal watching and listening to her growth as an artist. It is really giving you a whole different view of the music scene in Philly, everybody today does not have to be a Meek or an Uzi. You can be completely different from the two and still make music that people love.
Her music is literally like crack you won’t ever get tired of it because it is always, always something new when you press play. You have to listen to Whack World right now.