Tierra Whack has shared the difficult period that led her to create her new song “Club 27,” revealing that she was considering “ending it all.”
In a vulnerable, honest interview with Complex Music from Wednesday (March 20), the Philly-bred MC reflected on the closing track of her celebrated new LP, World Wide Whack, which spawned from a period of her life where she struggled with thoughts of suicide.
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“I was going to end it all,” she shared, “so why not end the project with the song that I was going to end it all with?”
She then explained how the song took shape: “The first line, ‘I can show you how it feels, when you lose what you love,’ I’m like, ‘Okay, where do I go from here?’ And the words just started flowing, and then I said, ‘suicide,’ and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve been wanting to say. This is what I’ve been wanting to do,’ and I felt light like a feather.”
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She added: “For so long, I was just heavy, like sunken in. But after I was done recording that song, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is it.’ I felt a release.”
Tierra also noted that many of her struggles related to the toxic culture of celebrity.
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“As the years went on, I was like, ‘Yo, I’m not feeling this fame thing,'” she said. “And then it just kind of clicked to me and I’m like, ‘Oh, maybe this is why these artists made that decision. So I started to feel like I was relating to that situation, and I was 27.”
The title references the artists who have died at age 27, including Amy Winehouse, Fredo Santana, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Fat Pat and Jim Morrison.
Whack also shared how she emerged from this dark episode, thanks in large part to her mother.
She explained: “She held a mirror up and was just like, ‘No, remember why you started.’ Something just clicked, and from that day on, we had a conversation, and I just made the conscious effort to want to be better, to want to feel better. To love myself, to care more about myself, and it’s just something I have to practice every day. It’s like a routine.”
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The “Flea Market” rapper’s new album may also have been partially inspired by JAY-Z.
The fittingly wacky cover for World Wide Whack art shows Tierra wearing a clown-esque outfit and sitting on a crescent stage prop in front of a giant “Joker” playing card.
Some fans traced the whimsical theme to quotes from an old Tierra Whack interview in which she revealed that JAY-Z once called her “the Joker of Hip Hop.”
Speaking to Apple Music in 2021 following the release of her Rap? EP, she said: “So I’ve seen the most recent Joker, the movie, about five times, it’s like one of my favorite movies.
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“I watched it once just by myself when it first came out and then I had a conversation with JAY-Z and he was like, ‘Yo, you’re the Joker of the game.’ And I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’
“And he’s like, ‘You come off happy but there’s a dark side.’ And honestly it stuck with me. And I’m just like, ‘You know what? That’s exactly who I am. I’m the Joker. I’m the wild card.’”
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Editorial note: Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or their mental health is encouraged to call the toll-free 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988.
