Tierra Whack | photo by John Vettese for WXPN
Tierra Whack’s new song “Unemployed” was co-written with her mom
One of my favorite parts of seeing Tierra Whack at last year’s Roots Picnic was the moment she got the crowd to chant “HEY MAMA WHACK” for her mother, who was watching the set from backstage. It’s always great to see that, much as an artist might be at the center of the zeitgeist, much as they may have captured the attention and imagination of fans and tastemakers alike, they’re still a real person with real roots, and they’ve still got time for family. And it continues nearly a year later.
Whack has been easing her way into 2019, following the success of last year’s Whack World, with #WhackHistoryMonth, a series of weekly single releases that’s dabbled in bubbly pop and slip-slidey soul. This week’s selection is called “Unemployed,” it’s a hard-hitting trap banger, and as she told Zane Lowe on the song’s debut for Beats 1 Radio, it was a collaboration with her mom.
“My mom is never in the studio with me,” she told Lowe. “but she was in the studio that day and she like basically helped me with the hook. It’s crazy.”
Listen to the song, and watch Whack via Zane Lowe below.