Whack World
Whack World | ||||
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Mixtape by Tierra Whack | ||||
Released | May 30, 2018 | |||
Recorded | 2017–2018 | |||
Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 14:56 | |||
Label | Interscope | |||
Producer |
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Tierra Whack chronology | ||||
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Singles from Whack World | ||||
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Whack World is the debut mixtape[1] by American rapper Tierra Whack. It was released on May 30, 2018, by Interscope Records.[2] The album is mainly produced by Kenete Simms and Nick Verruto, and conscripts other producers including J Melodic, RicandThadeus, DJ Fly Guy, and Scott Styles. It was mixed and engineered by Kenete Simms and mastered by Chris Athens.[3] The album artwork—of an arcade claw machine—was designed by Nick Canonica[4] and features a sculpture made by Philadelphia artist Caroline Kunka.[5]
Background
Whack was bullied as a child for being black in a predominantly white school, which inspired much of the "emotional labor" that was done on the album.[6] With each song length being a minute long, Tierra Whack released a 15-minute visual album with a music video for each track.[7] Whack says that she's a visual learner, and the visuals for Whack World allowed her to bring her ideas to life and "bring truth to the viewer's eye."[8] Regarding the many changes in her voice, Whack spoke to Billboard saying:
I get so bored with my voice. It started when I was a class clown, and realized I was kind of funny. And it's bad because sometimes I'll still do it – I'll hear someone and they'll have a funny ass voice, and I'll mock it. But that's rude, so I'll have to [do it] somewhere alone, and mock the voice to like, get it out, and know I can do that voice. I'm a sponge, so I just hear these things.[9]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
HipHopDX | 4.3/5[10] |
Pitchfork | 8.3/10[11] |
Spectrum Culture | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Vice (Expert Witness) | A−[13] |
The album was critically acclaimed and received positive reviews. Pitchfork praised the album, giving it a 8.3 out of 10 rating, saying: "Whack World is a funhouse of minute-long vignettes, teetering between a fantastic dream and an unsettling nightmare. Lyrics share double meanings with the corresponding 15-minute visual Whack released alongside the album, which adds even more dimension and intrigue to the ambitious project; light and dark are forced to coexist." The author also claimed that the visual album is "prepackaged for optimum social media consumption; every tiny piece stands on its own without losing sight of the larger picture. At its core, though, Whack's sense of humor—her captivating depiction of a black woman's imagination—is an opportunity to celebrate an aspect of art that often goes uncelebrated, an opportunity for Whack to celebrate herself."[11] In a Wired piece about women in the music industry in 2019, the author wrote that Whack World was working to destabilize the popular maximalist narrative currently characterizing music.[14] NPR hip hop writer Rodney Carmichael praised Whack's dream logic that characterizes the visual album, saying "each song vignette offers a deeper level of revelation into her black girl's blues."[6]
Accolades
Publication | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|
Billboard | 50 Best Albums of 2018[15] | 19 |
Complex | The Best Albums of 2018[16] | 16 |
Dazed | 20 Best Albums of 2018[17] | 1 |
Noisey | 100 Best Albums of 2018[18] | 1 |
Okayplayer | The Best Albums of 2018[19] | 2 |
Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[20] | 9 |
Exclaim! | Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums of 2018[21] | 7 |
NPR Music | 50 Best Albums of 2018[22] | 10 |
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Black Nails" | Tierra Whack | Kenete Simms | 0:58 |
2. | "Bugs Life" | Whack | Simms | 0:58 |
3. | "Flea Market" | Whack | Simms | 1:00 |
4. | "Cable Guy" |
| Verruto | 1:00 |
5. | "4 Wings" |
| Simms | 1:00 |
6. | "Hookers" |
| Verruto | 1:00 |
7. | "Hungry Hippo" |
| Verruto | 1:00 |
8. | "Pet Cemetery" |
| Simms | 1:00 |
9. | "Fuck Off" |
| Melodic | 1:00 |
10. | "Silly Sam" |
| Verruto | 1:00 |
11. | "Fruit Salad" |
| RicandThadeus | 1:00 |
12. | "Pretty Ugly" |
|
| 1:00 |
13. | "Sore Loser" | Whack | Scott Styles | 1:00 |
14. | "Dr. Seuss" |
| Simms | 1:00 |
15. | "Waze" |
| Simms | 1:00 |
Total length: | 14:56 |
References
- ^ Berry, Peter A. (March 15, 2024). "Tierra Whack Delivers on All of Her Potential With Kaleidoscopic World Wide Whack: Album Review". Variety. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "Whack World by Tierra Whack". iTunes. 30 May 2018.
- ^ "Whack World". Amazon.
- ^ Canonica, Nick. "SAVENICK". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
- ^ "Caroline Kunka | Home". www.carolinekunka.com. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^ a b Carmichael, Rodney. "Tierra Whack's Labor Of Self-Love, From Car Wash To Critical Mass". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
- ^ "It'll Only Take Tierra Whack 15 Minutes to Freak You the Fuck Out". Noisey. June 2018.
- ^ Cineas, Fabiola (2019-03-23). "North Philly Rapper Tierra Whack Is the Future of Hip-Hop". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
- ^ Maher, Natalie. "Tierra Whack on New Project 'Whack World,' Eating Chicken Wings With Andre 3000 & Why She Wants to Record in Tokyo". Billboard.
- ^ Eustice, Kyle (June 12, 2018). "Review: Tierra Whack's Audiovisual Journey Into "Whack World" Puts That Repeat Button To Work". HipHopDX. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ^ a b Younger, Briana (June 12, 2018). "Tierra Whack: Whack World". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ^ Bromfield, Daniel (June 12, 2018). "Tierra Whack: Whack World". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (July 14, 2018). "Robert Christgau on G.O.O.D Music's Good (and Less Good) Music". Vice. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ^ Parham, Jason (2019-02-14). "Women Will Dominate—and Dismantle—the Music Industry in 2019". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
- ^ "Billboard's 50 Best Albums of 2018: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ "Top 50 Albums of 2018". Complex. December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ Dazed (2018-12-05). "The 20 best albums of 2018". Dazed. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
- ^ "100 Best Albums of 2018". Vice.com. 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
- ^ "Okayplayer's Best Albums of 2018". Okayplayer. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
- ^ "Uncut's 75 Best Albums of 2018". Pitchfork. 11 December 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ "Exclaim!'s Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2018 (10-1)". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-05-05.