| Whack World | |
| Type: | mixtape |
| Artist: | Tierra Whack |
| Cover: | Whack World.jpg |
| Released: | May 30, 2018 |
| Recorded: | 2017–2018 |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Length: | 14:56 |
| Label: | Interscope |
| Next Title: | Rap? |
| Next Year: | 2021 |
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 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:
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." 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.[9] 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."
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard | 50 Best Albums of 2018[10] | 19 | |
| Complex | The Best Albums of 2018[11] | 16 | |
| Dazed | 20 Best Albums of 2018[12] | 1 | |
| Noisey | 100 Best Albums of 2018[13] | 1 | |
| Okayplayer | The Best Albums of 2018[14] | 2 | |
| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[15] | 9 | |
| Exclaim! | Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums of 2018[16] | 7 | |
| NPR Music | 50 Best Albums of 2018[17] | 10 |