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]
| Whack World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Mixtapeby | ||||
| 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 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]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| HipHopDX | 4.3/5[10] |
| Pitchfork | 8.3/10[11] |
| Spectrum Culture |    [12] |
| 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]
| 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 |
| 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 | |||