March 15, 2024
Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA
Hip-hop artist and Philly-native Tierra Whack released her new album, 'World Wide Whack,' via Interscope on March 15. It is her first full-length project since 2018.
Tierra Whack's journey from precocious freestyle rapper in Philadelphia to her emergence as one of the hottest names in hip-hop can appear to be the dream scenario for a breakthrough artist. Her confidence as a vocalist and her eccentric fashion sense convey the triumph of luxuriating in stardom, but her life in the public eye also has confronted her with frightening feelings about how to cope with all of the pressure.
"World Wide Whack," the North Philly-native's new album out Friday, is charged with dark themes and reflections on the struggles Whack has dealt with outside the limelight of her blossoming career. It's her first full-length release since 2018's critically acclaimed "Whack World," a collection of one-minute songs that flashed her versatility at giving dimension to pop music.
The musical backdrop of "World Wide Whack" will sound familiar to fans who know and love Whack's style, but it's contrasted with material that examines her fears and insecurities during the last several years she spent trying to deliver on the hype she had built. Whack released a trio of EP's in 2021 and scored features with the likes of Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, yet defining the evolution of her own sound often made her wonder whether she belonged in that company.
"I became very stressed because I was being pulled every way and all I wanted to do was have fun, so that drove me into depression," Whack said during an interview this week with music critic Anthony Fantano. "And so for six years, everybody was asking, 'Whack, what are you going to do? When are you going to drop (an album)?' I'm like, God, I'm still trying to figure this all out. It's so much. I didn't know at first, but I was crashing and burning ... I was literally ready to end it all."
"27 Club," the lead single off "World Wide Whack," was inspired by her changing impressions on the deaths of famed musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse — all of whom died at 27 years old. Whack wondered whether she was unraveling in similar ways and came to understand their self-destructive despair. The music video for "27 Club" shows Whack cycling through a series of masks as she sings about feeling so much loss that the only thing she can commit to is suicide. The song plays on the multiple meanings of suicide, referencing the athletic drill where a person runs back and forth between lines on a field, with one vocal layer saying, "Coach got me doing suicides."
Whack has been open about her struggles with depression in the past. In Philadelphia, where she attended Northeast Philly's Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush for three years, Whack first gained notoriety for a freestyle video she made with We Run The Streets in 2012. Then performing locally under the name Dizzle Dizz, she was encouraged by her mother to pursue her talent, which hadn't yet caught up with the expectation of those around her that she would go on to big things. But she remained stuck in the freestyle rap circuit without a clear path forward.
"I had a lot of pressure on me," Whack told The Fader in 2018 after the release of "Whack World." "Everyone was happy for me, but I wasn't happy. I just felt like I was selling myself short."
Whack moved to Atlanta with her mother to finish high school and later returned to Philadelphia, refining her artistic vision with the help of engineer Kenete Simms. She went on to sign with Interscope and started composing "Whack World," whose brevity gave Whack a mission statement that resonated widely. She was unabashedly weird and proud to proclaim herself a product of Philadelphia, using her platform to uplift future artists.
Whack told Fantano she spent recent years feeling conflicted about the ethic in Philadelphia that drove her to achieve success. It may have also prevented her from allowing herself to grapple with depression and creative uncertainty.
"Coming from where I come from (in) Philly, you're supposed to just be tough all the time and you're supposed (be like), 'Yo, you got it. You'll figure it out,'" Whack said. "It's not that, though. You can't avoid your feelings."
In her upcoming video for "Two Night," in which she deals with feelings of abandonment by her father, Whack floats across the Philadelphia skyline and faces the fear of rejection by an angry crowd below. Despite the pressure of repping a city that holds her up as a native daughter, Whack said she views her hometown as one of the foundations of her persona and a place that gives her comfort.
"I've traveled a lot of places and met a lot people, but coming back home always feels the most safe for me," she said.
Whack told Fantano she's a bit anxious about the reception she'll get for such an emotionally raw album, but said she's come a long way. Releasing "World Wide Whack" will help set her free from the worries that have consumed her, creating more room for her to embrace the bright lights on her career.
"I've been able to dig myself out of the abyss," Whack said. "I'm in a way better space than I was before. I think just having my family around, my mom, going to therapy, getting closer to God. Just really believing that I belong here."
