When Tierra Whack dropped Whack World in 2018, she showcased what her potential could reach while slowly matriculating a name for herself through features and some EPs in 2021. Those EPs reflected different genre conventions heard through a decadent array of focused tracks compared to the one-minute songs on Whack World. She takes both and morphs it into something unique and expansive on her debut album, World Wide Whack, where her talents don’t feel wasted, and you’re getting a tinge of what is to come the more Whack grows as an artist. She’s blunt—not one for mincing words as her music reflects her understanding of her self-worth, and the confidence emanating from it makes it refreshing as it doesn’t rely on overt metaphorical complexities, instead giving it to you straight while still having some death like the brilliant “Two Night.” World Wide Whack is a swift ride that tries to suck the juice from each song till there isn’t any left, but Whack has something to say, and introducing herself further is done magnificently, despite leaving you wanting more. It means I loved it as a debut despite some minor wavering issues.

Unlike Whack World, World Wide Whack is fuller as songs are more constructed to have definitive starts and ends. She isn’t necessarily giving us something homogenized in one direction, instead (nearly seamlessly) finding ways to balance songs that may not interconnect even if reflecting the same genre sounds. It shows from the colorful and fun “Channel Pit” to the more bashful and nuanced rap on “Numb,” where sentiments from the title’s dictionary definition are reflected in her voice as she flows on the track. With Hip-Hop being a cornerstone area that is fluid to Tierra Whack, courage gets shown with more comfortability expressed in her singing. After a more percussion-laced heater in “X,” we get that with the beautifully designed “Moovies,” where R&B-Pop textures intertwine and showcase a tender side to Whack as she sings about the intricacies of movie dates. From the hook to the verses, it’s one of the definitive highlights, specifically as it keeps it straight and on track, leaving the percussion simple by comparison, which allows Whack to shine in a new light, different from the brain-fried singing complementary to “Brain Burning,” it’s one helluva debut.

Like the album’s title, World Wide Whack, the world is vast for Tierra Whack, and she knows it. It’s why the album doesn’t feel constrained to one linear direction and allows this myriad of sounds to interconnect with a sense of ease. Many songs have the casings of a smooth, modernistic boom-bap percussion base as others incorporate Jazz, Funk, and R&B through unique factions like the funkadelic “Shower Song,” which sees Whack rapping and singing with the confidence one shows singing in the shower, as all shame and nervousness subsides because it’s just you and the water, and reflects that to a worldview. These interconnecting sounds give her album more character than the limited Whack World, almost as if you’re getting a surprise with each transition, like as she goes from the confident “Ms Behave” to the quirky but oh-so catchy “Channel Pit” or more hardened reflection about the people who have supported her from the start of her career with “Snake Eyes,” interplaying with notions of luck with brilliance.  

The music has a specific flow that allows for the meat of the content to maneuver through the middle of the album, as with tracks like “Accessible,” “Numb,” “X,” “Difficult,” and “Invitation,” where some of her most profound works shine, despite it being an overall delight to go through. The highs show through the intricate and courageously colorful production, even if mostly centered on Hip-Hop. Equally as courageous is Tierra Whack going through without a feature. It allows for a lavish picture of her person without sidestepping for a verse that takes away from her story. It’s a testament to her craft because the singing shines more than the rapping, and that’s one aspect that I will lament on, as it offers proper synergy. Unfortunately, this journey with Tierra Whack isn’t all perfect. Tierra Whack’s bluntness is a positive and a negative, where sometimes you don’t get enough around the edges to expand further, but there is a consistency to not leaving you bewildered with what it wants to say. It’s what separates the fun but minimally efficacious “Shower Song” from the more profound “Two Night.”

Tierra Whack delivers a fantastic album that showcases her talent expeditiously, even during the downer moments. Her ear for production flows beautifully with weaving her vocals through raps or singing graciously, elevating what one expected, especially as the album comes six years later than expected. But if Whack World showed us anything, it was worth the wait because World Wide Whack delivers and then some. There’s no denying I loved the album, even with the minor issues I couldn’t look over, but seeing and hearing Whack and understanding who she is and what she wants to deliver makes it all worthwhile. I know it’s one album I will loop all year, and I hope the same latches on to you, the reader, and (or) fans of her work.