Whack Artist Appreciation

Posted on March 01, 2019

Christopher Alvarez

Whack World Pushes the Boundaries of the Hip-Hop Album

Article

Released May 30, 2018, Tierra Whack’s concept album Whack World is a bubbly yet stark auditory landscape stained with hues of neon greens, blues, pinks, and yellows. All of which can be consumed in 15 minutes.

Yes, 15 minutes.

Whack World is a 15-minute 15 track album, with each song clocking in right at a minute. It is a drastic depart from the traditional hour-long form of hip-hop albums. And despite its brevity, the album succeeds in capturing the many moods of Ms. Tierra Whack.

From excited to melancholy; grateful to perplexed; passive to annoyed, Whack skillfully relays her emotions to the listener in the time-constrained pieces.

Each song serves as an auditory tease, for as soon as you’re hooked on one woozy wave, a quick transition introduces the next sultry sound. In that moment of transition there’s a craving for more; however, as fast as it appeared, that burning feeling is quickly extinguished as you latch onto the next queued song.

It is an extreme, but true triumph of quality over quantity.

Streaming has made music more accessible but harder to digest. Longer albums and frequent releases make it difficult to appreciate what is in front of us. Just look at Drake’s 25 track, hour and a half long Scorpion, or the exhausting list of music released in 2018. And more recently, the February 2019 release of not one, not two, but three 40+ minute albums from major artists Gunna, Lil Pump, and Offset – all on the same day.

With our fast-paced lifestyles, music can be everything and nothing if there isn’t time to consume the body of work presented.

However, like Whack, other hip-hop artists are realizing this need for brevity and clarity. Look at Vince Staple’s FM! (11 songs; 22 minutes), Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs (15 songs; 24 minutes), or the Summer 2018 albums by G.O.O.D music artists Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Pusha T – which clocked in around 20 minutes apiece.

More artists should take a page out of Whack’s approach.

No, it doesn’t mean there should be a surge of 15-minute-long albums. Rather, artists should practice how to efficiently translate their thoughts and emotions into their music and, subsequently, to the ears of their listeners.

Sometimes, that relay will be effortless, but most often it’ll require a period of incubation.