![]() ![]() She credits her current work on Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements, which emphasizes a gratitude mindset, as well as finding happiness in the joy she brings to others, in helping maintain a healthy emotional space. Her team remained supportive as Tierra navigated low points. It’s a blessing to be here today, because I didn’t think I would be here.” “I just hope somebody relates because these past couple years I’ve been through so much. “I am being blatantly honest on this – like, it’s no holding back,” she said. She’s navigated depression, health struggles, and loss of family. She was not immune to the toll the 2020s have taken on many of us. Like all of Tierra’s other projects, the songs on her new album take listeners through an all-encompassing emotional, topical, and contextual journey of the past few years. “My friends are like, ‘Yo, we want to hear you talk a little bit like, you know, just get on, like, show that Philly.’ So I did that for them.” But “Chanel Pit” makes her feel playful, and is one of her favorite records to put her in a good mood. I like to be chill, I don’t like a lot of attention,” she said. “Naturally I’m not really, like, a bragger. But the bouncy beat almost conceals the patent Philadelphia swag in some of the bars, one of Tierra’s favorite sleights of hand. The lead single on the new album, “ Chanel Pit,” is a cheeky, upbeat record laden with clever homophones, double entendres, and turns of phrase: “I don’t play fair/fare well, I don’t like to show you my tell/tail,” she raps on the song. The album is a chance for Tierra to reintroduce herself to her fans, especially since her breakthrough project, Whack World, was released five years ago. The project is currently slated for early 2024. She’s like, hurry up and put it out,” Tierra said, laughing. These days, she continues to seek her mother’s guidance as she works on creative undertakings – her soon-to-come sophomore album is no exception. Tierra doesn’t take having such a supportive parent lightly – her mom encouraged her to jump into that freestyle at 15 years old, which led to Tierra’s first viral moment. “I was like, I don’t really know about that. “She used to tell me early on, ‘You should model or be into fashion,’ before I really even decided to do music,” Tierra said. Tierra’s mother approved, but she has been encouraging her daughter’s creative impulses for years. That afternoon, she rapped along to a Lauryn Hill song to settle into the vibe of a shot, posed with Freddy Krueger-like nails, and harnessed the Afrofuturistic cool of rappers Missy Elliott and Andre 3000. The Grammy nominee never needed to worry – the looks were quintessentially Whack, where she harnessed just about any color in the rainbow and molded it into a kaleidoscopic universe of her imagination. “My mom’s the flyest person I know,” she said. Under the glare of a thousand bright bulbs as well as photographers, editors and production staff, it was Tierra’s mother who had the rapper the most nervous. It had been a big week for the Philly native - the trailer for Cypher dropped, and, with her mother in tow, she also served looks for her Andscape cover shoot. Tierra welcomed me into the wonderful world of Whack one October evening at a trendy Williamsburg hotel in Brooklyn, where we tried our best to find a respite from the chaotic hum of New York City socializing. Related Story From ‘Miseducation’ to Miss Lauryn Hill Read now Meanwhile, she continued to put out work on the vanguard of hip-hop artistry, dropping three EPs – Rap?, Pop? and R&B? - in 2021, while continuing to put out the occasional freestyle on public platforms. The reaction brought accolades from fans, peers and legends alike - Tierra toured with longtime idol Lauryn Hill, became a mainstay at festivals, received a Grammy nomination, and appeared as a featured artist on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift. The project was a 15-minute audiovisual panoply of Tierra’s curiosities, interests, skills, and creative influences. With a disarming flow that would become her staple, Tierra stood out for being willing to go down the lyrical rabbit hole and discover what was at the other end, even if it was as bizarre as “ my flow is on dookie booties and chocolate smoothies.” After a brief hiatus in Atlanta where she finished high school and began recording music, Tierra returned to Philadelphia ready to make the evolution from rapper to immersive artist, delivering a few singles (including the deliciously incoherent “ Mumbo Jumbo”) before releasing her debut album Whack World in 2018. ![]()
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