With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
On Whack World, Tierra Whack’s one-minute song theme was a peek into the future. The project’s brevity—snippet-length songs, 15-minute total runtime—made it perfect for replaying. It showcased her versatility as a songwriter and vocalist and would inspire artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Solange. Still, so much of her album felt like a tease. We wanted more of her syrupy melodies (“Hungry Hippo”) and her sing-rap delivery (“Fruit Salad”). Thankfully, Tierra Whack is gearing up for another run and with tracks like “Gloria” her experimentation is still intact, but this time we’re seeing her ideas play out in full.
Three tracks, three different styles, in as many weeks. This is how Tierra Whack has kicked off her 2019. There was the pop-leaning, ex-bashing “Only Child,” the bass-heavy “Clones,” and now the flexing, melodic “Gloria.” Whack’s latest single, “Gloria,” finds her using the delivery she’s most comfortable with—where her singing and rapping meet in the middle. The song also features Tierra riding the bright piano chords with one of her catchiest hooks to date: “Put a nigga in a box like a Big Mac/Man they love me in the hood they say ‘Big Whack.’” And Whack tosses humility to the curb in her verses (“Swear I work the hardest/Most of y’all dudes are garbage”) as she realizes that 2019 is about to be her year (“I know I been chosen/Got the golden token”). Whack World wasn’t a fluke, Tierra is back, with music that shows off her wide-ranging skills better than before. And she knows it’s only up from here: “I don’t see no opponent/This time, my moment.”
_Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Tierra Whack and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
