I can’t sleep, I can’t eat
I feel small, so petite
I act strong, but I’m weak
Ha, ha, ha, ha (livin’ is difficult)
I was born to survive
See the pain in my eyes
I been stressed and deprived
Ha, ha, ha, ha (livin’ is difficult)
So, imagine you’re Generation Z. You’re a Zoomer. You were born between 1995 and 2012, because the dividing lines of these ‘generations’ are fucking ridiculous. I’m a Millennial because I was born between 1980 and 1994. I’m the same generation as Rishi Sunak (1980) and Justin Bieber (1994), which explains the similarities between the three of us.
But not you though! You’re Gen Z, you’re in the same pool as Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy (2012), Millie Bobby Brown (2004) and Tierra Whack (1995). You likely won’t remember a time before the world was fucked:. You were four years old at most when NATO bombed Yugoslavia and announced the new laws of violent neoliberalism dominance, where peace would now only be reached with bombs. You don’t remember a time before 9/11, the War On Terror is your life. You’ve never caught a plane without first taking your shoes off. All your life everyone has known that the world is fucking burning up and going to die pretty fucking soon. Your whole life, the entire human race has known that it’s killing itself, and has done nothing to prevent this spectacular suicide. I mean, the old fucks like me and KSI (1993) have had time to ponder accept this death cult, but imagine being born into it!!
Back in 1994, as Eric Cantona buried his second penalty into the Chelsea goal in the FA Cup final, life felt good! “This isn’t a morbid and perverse death march into latter stage capitalism burning trash heap of annihilation”, I remember thinking to myself. Gen Z can’t relate.
Yeah, sure, the Rwandan Genocide was happening at the exact time that Brian McClair and Mark Hughes put the match beyond Chelsea’s reach, but you know how we all dealt with that knowledge, psychologically? Trick question: we didn’t have a clue it was happening. Yeah, maybe 30 seconds at the end of the 10 O’Clock News, but we weren’t carrying little machines in our pocket that allowed us to see live coverage of each one of the 800’000 Tutsis being horrifically and barbarically ethnically cleansed. Mate, it was great, we didn’t know shit! We were pig ignorant and all the happier for it! “So no one told you life was gonna be this way – CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP!!!”
Ah well, at least you’ll be able to get strength from your own physical communities and make connections at school, college, university, at your work place, or just with your community in the outside world, which will make this horrendous death cult more tolerable and…
Psyche!!! COVID-19 MOTHERFUCKERS!!
I was in my really late 20’s when the ‘Rona hit. Like, really, really late 20’s. So late that some people might argue that I should have technically passed my 20’s around six years previously, but I chose not to. Anyway: I was already an old man, I already knew who and what was worth connecting with, I was mature enough to recognise that the most worthwhile pursuits in life were reading books, completing The Last of Us Part 2 and writing a blog series about online dating. I was basically past my ‘leaving the house’ stage, y’know? My life isn’t an episode of ‘Skins’ for fuck’s FFS. Gen Z though? Motherfuckers lost some formative years. I didn’t have to go to work for a few months, but Gen Z lost university experiences, were separated from peers just when they’re learning about adult comradery, were all removed from human community and had the world remind them sternly that they were all alone and nobody is there for you. Your mental health is shattered. You should really consider killing yourself. Do it.
But, at the same time: Lol! KYS! KMS!
Suicide
Like the glass full but I’m empty (hey, hey, whoa, ay, ah)
Said, “I’m broken, can you fix me?”
(Yeah, the coach got me doin’ suicides)
(Suicide)
If I’m dreamin, ‘ you should pinch me (hey, ah, hey, ah, hey)
Got a gun to my head, don’t tempt me
Yeah, the coach got me doin’ suicides
Being born into this 8 billion large clown car intentionally being careered into the heart of the sun by a tiny group of drivers who have used stock calculations to decide that complete annihilation of the whole planet will increase share prices by 0.14%, has given Gen Z an utterly fatalistic sense of humour about the whole charade. Like Bertolt Brecht’s theory about theatrical techniques (yeah, we’re going there), Gen Z are using dark, absurdist humour to approach sensitive or problematic topics without the defensive mentality these topics usually provoke. You know what this means? An entire generation has basically taken its philosophy from Heath Ledger’s joker. Or Rick and fucking Morty. If you’re an older Millennial like myself reading this, a direct comparison would be Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, only not as cool, obviously, because all newer stuff is shit and kids today don’t know they’re born.
‘World Wide Whack’ is a delicate balancing exercise between the twin pursuits of morbidity and absurdity, and just about pulls it off. Whack was just 22 when they released their absolutely incredible debut album more than five years ago – the fifteen minute, fifteen song perfection of ‘Whack World‘ – and it’s fair to say that their early 20’s since then won’t have played out entirely as they expected. While ‘Whack World’ was a quick and eclectic zip around Tierra’s consciousness in bite size servings, understandable given the format, ‘World Wide Whack’ is a far deeper, far darker delve into their anxieties, their paranoia, their depression and frequently into their suicidal ideations.
How’d I make it this far?
Long sleeves cover scars, my tears in a jar
Drink ’em like I’m at the bar
To the bridge in my car, now I’m swimming with the sharks
The fact that the album still manages to so often sounds so much freaking fun is a testament to Whack’s extraordinary and entirely unique talents. The opening four track run – from the introductory smooth RnB of MOOD SWINGS revealing the album’s themes (“Might look familiar, but I promise you don’t know me”) to the crunching beats of MS BEHAVE proving that Whack can go as hard as anyone if they please to the joyous and witty CHANEL PIT (which… might… be the best song they’ve ever done…) and finally to the aforementioned dark ideations of NUMB – exhibit such a range of genre, tone and subject matter without ever lacking cohesion that I simply don’t think any other artist working today could better.
It’s far from perfect, unfortunately. Whack is extraordinarily witty, but when they try to make a ‘funny’ song it inevitably falls flat, because there’s never been a good ‘funny’ song. Dumb tracks like MOOVIES and (especially!) SHOWER SONG (“I ain’t into takin’ baths (no)/Sometimes I do (yeah)/Just so I can soak my ass (soap)”) are just bad jokes extended over three minutes, which coming from an artist who’s previously shown how much ingenuity they can pack into a sixty second song is particularly distressing. More dark humour would fit far better than the occasional jarring tonal shifts into arse washing. What, Tierra, you can’t wash your arse in the shower? Wait! Is this another ‘only black people wash their legs in the shower’ culture war thing?? Am I being culturally insensitive?? Apologies, wash your arse how you please, your identity is valid. But these bum (lol! “Bum”!) notes are only so irritating because Tierra manages to tackle subjects so vulnerable and honest on other sections of the record. ‘World Wide Whack’ just about holds together, and when it’s good it’s fantastic. It’s no masterpiece, but the expanding of Tierra’s talents suggests this is far from the ceiling on their ambitions.
doesn’t count! Three EPs that I flung together
Album Art as AI Image
Good try, AI, well done
Necessary Evil 
3 thoughts on “#21 Tierra Whack: WORLD WIDE WHACK”