“WORLD WIDE WHACK” – Tierra Whack

Album: WORLD WIDE WHACK

Artist: Tierra Whack

Year: 2024

Genre: Alternative Hip Hop, R&B

Grade: B+

Officially, WORLD WIDE WHACK is American rapper Tierra Whack’s debut album — on a technicality, 2018’s brilliant 15-minute Whack World was classified as a mixtape, and the 2021 trifecta of Rap? Pop? and R&B? were singles/EPs. Either way, Whack has been around for a little bit, not exactly a newcomer, and WORLD WIDE WHACK continues her quirky never-taking-herself-too-serious idiosyncratic style.

The main draw is Whack’s entertaining vocal style, which shifts from tongue-in-cheek crooning, funny mumblecore, imaginative Dr. Seuss rhymes delivered in a dreamy drawl — basically, whatever comes across her mind in the instant before it comes out of her mouth. The music is similarly colorful, inspired by 2010s alternative icons like Blonde-era Frank Ocean (the minimalist “Chanel Pit”) and Flower Boy-era Tyler the Creator (the spacey guitars of “Imaginary Friends”) and SOS-era SZA (the acoustic reverberations of “Two Night”). And I’d be remiss if I didn’t randomly note the electronic percussive similarities between “Ms Behave” and Joni Mitchell’s 1975 song “The Jungle Line.”

The lyrics feature Whack’s trademark zany rhymes (“Pulled up in a Bentley truck/You pulled up in a little ass Beetle/Yeah I like to drive so fast/Feelin’ like the homie Vin Diesel”), with subject matter that ranges from nonsensical to romantically suicidal.

WORLD WIDE WHACK has a little bit of everything that makes Whack so inventive — funky trap beats, jazzy chord progressions, eclectic instrumentation, a weird serialist piano freestyle that serves as an interlude every couple songs. Even though the runtime has been elongated to 37 minutes, Whack is still adept at crafting weirdly memorable miniatures, with hooks that are both melodic and lovably cringey. (In the case of “Shower Song” and “Invitation,” the cringe factor goes a little overboard and becomes too cutesy.)

Her 2024 debut album might not be as immediate or momentous as her 2018 debut mixtape, but Whack remains a uniquely singular voice in hip hop. She’s authentically herself, and if that authenticity has been copied by countless imitators also sculpting depression into idiosyncratic irony, then that just proves Whack is an alternative hip hop O.G for a new generation.

I applaud Whack for continuing to do her thing and not succumbing to the pressures that come with fame and a bigger budget. If you remain unconvinced by her music (or my review), I suggest checking out her impressive pop-art music videos.

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