Few young hip hop artists are making strides like Tierra Whack right now. Her style is rapid-fire, deeply engaging and yeah, whacky.
Her latest single (and a perfect starting point for new listeners) is Unemployed, a heavy-hitting tune which premiered on Adult Swim alongside a suitably Adult Swim-esque film clip featuring a cast of terrified potatoes with human faces. If you haven’t already guessed it, Tierra Whack is a little different from the rest.
Introduce yourself to the rapid-fire verses and brain-bending creative talent of Tierra Whack, one of America’s most sharply rising rap stars.
Unemployed came as the last of five singles Whack has released in 2019, the others dubbed Wasteland, Only Child, CLONES, and Gloria. She dropped these just a week apart from each other, but that’s hardly the only unconventional release strategy to Whack’s name.
Her debut album Whack World is as incredible as it is idiosyncratic. A collection of 15 one-minute tracks each accompanied by a fever dream of a video, when stitched together they form a tripped-out, technicolour body of work.
Call it a social media savvy approach if you will, but regardless of its format Whack World stood tall as a combined audio, visual and artistic project that proclaimed Whack as one of hip hop’s most captivating new voices.
It seems everything Tierra Whack does defies convention, and not simply for defiance’s sake. Her music and image are humorous but stylish; you get the sense that behind her work is not a sense of marketing-savvy meticulousness, but a genuine enjoyment for the music she’s crafting.
As Whack shifts back to more standardised song compositions in 2019, we wonder what new kooky methods she’s keeping in her back pocket. Whatever they may be, we’re more than ready to be spun upside-down by Tierra Whack any time.
