Tierra Helena Whack (born August 11, 1995) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She originally performed as "Dizzle Dizz" as a teenager, but later on reverted to her birth name in 2017. Her debut studio album, ''

Whack World ''Whack World'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Tierra Whack. It was released on May 30, 2018, by Interscope Records. The album is mainly produced by Kenete Simms and Nick Verruto, and conscripts other producers including J Melodic, ...

'', was released in May 2018 and received widespread critical acclaim.

Early life and education

Whack was born in 1995 and raised by her mother in

North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is immediately north of Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as everything north of either ...

. She has two younger siblings. In a 2018 interview with ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'', Whack mentioned that she and her father are estranged. Whack was an introverted kid growing up; she would write to help herself deal with her insecurities. As a child, Whack loved the author

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Whack pinpointed the exact moment when her love for rhyming began; she was to rhyme for a homework assignment for class, and after receiving positive feedback, she continued with it. She later asked her mother for composition books to fill with rhymes and lyrics before she would eventually start recording herself. Whack attended

The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush (also known as Benjamin Rush, Rush Arts, or simply Rush) is a public, magnet high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rush Arts opened in September 2008 after a two-year remodeling (it was previously a mi ...

for three years before finishing high school in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. At Benjamin Rush, she was a vocal major, and was one of few black students in a predominately white graduating class. With some difficulty, she and her friends persuaded their principal to let them perform the finale number from '' Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit'' for the school vocal showcase, and Whack performed a rap verse. Later in Whack's career, she toured with

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

, who starred in the 1993 film. At around the age of fifteen, Whack who went by the moniker "Dizzle Dizz" appeared in a 2011 freestyle video produced by Philadelphia's underground music collective We Run the Streets. Her mother drove past the group of men freestyling and encouraged her to join. She released several tracks as Dizzle Dizz, including "Dizzy Rascvls", but struggled with depression in the months following. Despite still being a teenager, Whack gained notoriety in the streets of Philadelphia as "Dizzle Dizz." Despite her growing fame, Whack grew bored. There was no way to make money in freestyling and no way to creatively grow. She claimed there was little experimentation and growth beyond

battle rap Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live ...

ping if she were to stay in Philadelphia. Her mother elected to move them both out of Philadelphia, so Whack could finish school. After moving to Atlanta, Whack began working at a Mister Car Wash, which allowed her to save up for a Mac laptop and start recording her music. She was often the only woman working on the line at the car wash, and her former manager said she was a memorable person with an impressive drive, which Whack credits to her mother. In Atlanta, Whack kept a low profile, having felt the fame back home. She wanted to keep to herself to have a chance to focus solely on her music. By the time she returned to Philadelphia, she had a laptop full of two years' worth of music; which she never ended up sharing with anyone. Whack eventually returned to Philadelphia, leaving her family behind in Atlanta. It was during this time, however, that she was actually homeless for three months. She hopped around friends' homes but refused to return to Atlanta. She believed staying in Philadelphia would be the best for her music career.

Musical career

2015–2017: Career beginnings

By 2015, Whack had moved back to Philadelphia, and she reconnected with Kenete Simms, a sound engineer and music producer whom she knew from her teenage years. Whack credits Simms as her collaborator. It was during this time in which she reconnected with Simms that she learned how to properly mix her own music. Simms helped her learn how to use the equipment in order to help her make music more easily. In 2017, she signed with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. Johnny Montina is her manager. In March 2017, Whack made her debut as Tierra Whack with 3 tracks, including "Toe Jam" and "Shit Happens". In October 2017, Whack released "Mumbo Jumbo", a hip-hop single and accompanying music video that featured the young rapper performing while wearing a

mouth prop A mouth prop (also bite block) is a wedge-shaped implement used in dentistry for dentists working with children and other patients who have difficulty keeping their mouths open wide and steady during a procedure, or during procedures where the pat ...

. Most of the lyrics to the track are purposefully unintelligible. She also toured with

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flyi ...

in 2017.

2018–present: ''Whack World'' and weekly singles

Whack's debut fifteen track album, ''

'', was released on May 30, 2018, and received a "Best New Music" accolade from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''. Critics praised the unusual format of the album — each song lasting about 1 minute each. Whack released each short track on Instagram, each accompanied by a short film directed by Thibaut Duverneix and Mathieu Léger. The multimedia project received widespread critical acclaim.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album an A-minus and reported in ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'' that his wife, fellow critic

Carola Dibbell Carola Dibbell (born April 4, 1945) is an American music journalist and author. Biography Dibbell was born in New York City and grew up in Greenwich Village. She attended Hunter College High School and is a graduate of Radcliffe College. Her s ...

, loved the video, saying "it gave me reason for living". Often referred to as the ' Missy Elliott' of this generation, Whack has gained a great amount of applaud for the creativity and eccentricity of her music videos. The track "Mumbo Jumbo" received a nomination for Best Music Video for the

2019 Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

. In October 2018, Whack travelled to

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

for a long-term artistic sabbatical. In an episode of

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

's "The Cosign" series on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in which current artists who have been in the industry have the opportunity to watch videos of newer artists, rapper

Remy Ma Reminisce Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. In 2006, she released her debut stu ...

chose to cosign Whack. Despite the fact that she mentioned seeing potential in each of the artists, Remy said, "I pick her because I feel like she brought the entire package as far as the song, the delivery, the vocals, and the actual visual. I feel like she did something that was super out of the ordinary, and I enjoyed it. And I wanna watch it again." In the episode of The Cosign, Whack's music video for her single "Unemployed" was put in a group with music videos from other female MCs including

Kash Doll Arkeisha Antoinette Knight, known professionally as Kash Doll, is an American rapper and actress from Detroit, Michigan. Signed to Republic Records, she is best known for her singles "For Everybody" (2017) and "Ice Me Out" (2018), the latter o ...

CupcakKe Elizabeth Eden Harris (born May 31, 1997), known professionally as Cupcakke (often stylized as CupcakKe; pronounced ), is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. She is known for her hypersexualised, brazen, and often comical persona and mus ...

Mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

, Tay Money, and That Girl Lay Lay. She has recorded as-yet-unreleased music with

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, ...

and

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

. In 2018, she toured with

6lack Ricardo Archibald Valentine Jr. (born June 24, 1992), known professionally as 6lack (stylized as 6LACK, pronounced "black"), is an American singer and rapper. He initially gained notable recognition following the release of his single, "Prblms" ...

on his world tour, From East Atlanta with Love. Briana Younger, the writer for ''

'', wrote that "popular and mainstream rap hasn't championed a darker-skinned woman since Missy Elliot...and Whack seems poised to be the one." Whack acknowledged that women in the music industry often aren't afforded the privilege to make art for art's sake, but she refuses to let that inhibit her. Starting February 19, 2019, Whack released one single per week for five weeks in a series she called "#whackhistorymonth." These singles included "Only Child", "Clones", "Gloria", "Wasteland", and "Unemployed". Whether these tracks will be released under a full-length album has not yet been revealed. Whack has stated that she is not thinking about a timeline for a new album, saying “I’m not gonna drive myself crazy. I’m having fun creating what I’m creating.” Whack also collaborated with Flying Lotus on the song "Yellow Belly" for his 2019 album ''

Flamagra ''Flamagra'' is the sixth studio album by American record producer Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison), released on May 24, 2019 by Warp Records. It is his first album since 2014's ''You're Dead!''. The lead single, the spoken-word "Fire Is Coming" feat ...

'' and she was later named as one of the members of '' XXL's'' "2019 Freshman Class" on June 20, 2019. She appeared at many festivals in the 2019 festival season including

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind", a 2017 song by Lana del Rey See also

* Coachell ...

Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espany ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

Outside Lands Outside Lands was the name used in the 19th century for the present-day Richmond District, San Francisco, California, Richmond District and Sunset District, San Francisco, California, Sunset District in San Francisco, California. With few roads an ...

, Camp Flog Gnaw,

Osheaga The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (french: Festival musique et arts Osheaga) is a multi-day indie music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six stages ...

, and

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

. Her song "Unemployed" is featured in the football game

FIFA 20 ''FIFA 20'' is a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the ''FIFA'' series. It is the 27th installment in the series and was released on 27 September 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nint ...

. Whack co-wrote and was featured in

Melanie Martinez Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on the American television vocal talent show ''The Voice ...

's single "Copy Cat”, which was released on February 10, 2020. This marks the first time that Whack has worked in a professional capacity with

. In May 2020, Whack would appear alongside American rapper

Lil Yachty Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Boat, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. He first gained recognition on the internet in 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" (featuring ...

on the song " T.D" which features rappers

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...

and

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future. Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...

. The song would peak at #84 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, marking Whack's first entry on the chart. Whack would feature on the song "Me x 7" by

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

, taken from her seventh studio album, ''Alicia'', in September 2020. Her 2017 single, "Mumbo Jumbo", had an accompanying music video that garnered a Best Music Video nomination for the

. In October 2020, Whack released her first solo single of the year titled "Dora". In November 2020, Whack appeared in the 2020 Apple holiday commercial "The Magic of Mini" which featured the new singles, "Peppers and Onions" and "feel good" which were released coinciding the commercial. In April 2021, Whack released a single titled "Link". The music video, created in partnership with

the LEGO Group Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...

, had Tierra Whack sit down with a group of schoolchildren as part of

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

's “Rebuild the World” campaign, using their ideas as inspiration for the video. In December 2021, Whack released three EPs, ''Rap?'', ''Pop?'' and ''R&B?''.

Artistry

Whack's beginnings in rap started out in battle rapping, and it is something she looks upon fondly. While she appreciates the foundation that it gave her for her music, she wanted to aim higher than just rap battles. Seeing artists such as Lauryn Hill, Andre 3000, and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

had inspired her to become a true artist. In doing so, she would be seen as something more serious than just a battle rapper. Whack cites Outkast,

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

, and

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...

as some of her musical influences. Whack claims there are many different things that inspire and motivate her and she wants to be able to portray those to her fans in her music. She even credits things such as

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

or No! David as some of her influences; these are clearly seen through her visuals from her album's music video. Her inspirations come from everything around her; from her relationships to people to inanimate objects. Her single, "Only Child", for example, was created after dating a man whose behavior she aligned with that of someone who grew up an only child. Whack's mother is often credited as one of, if not the, biggest inspirations for her music. She recalls the days her mother would play gangster rap during car rides. For her single, "Unemployed", her mother had actually helped her create the hook for the song.

Personal life

Whack has written poetry since she was a child. Writing was a way for her to deal with her shyness and insecurities. She is also an accomplished

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

performer. She currently lives in Philadelphia with her mother and two siblings. She is still “Philly-based,” saying that Philadelphia is her home and where she feels grounded. She owns a cat, whom she named Starkey after a

Whole Foods Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A USDA ...

brand of sparkling water. She does not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. She is severely allergic to insects, a condition she satirizes in the music video for her 2018 track, "Bugs Life".

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whack, Tierra Living people Rappers from Philadelphia African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists African-American musicians African-American women rappers American women rappers East Coast hip hop musicians Artists from Philadelphia Interscope Records artists 21st-century American rappers 21st-century women rappers 1995 births 21st-century American women 21st-century African-American women