Every week, Consequence highlights the latest and greatest new tracks with our Song of the Week column. Find these new favorites and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Tierra Whack misbehaves on “MS BEHAVE.”
For the first time in six years, Tierra Whack has a brand new full-length project. WORLD WIDE WHACK, the follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed Whack World, picks up where the eclectic artist left off, offering another helping of artsy, playful goodness. This time around, however, there’s a darkness at the center of Whack’s world. Throughout the 37-minute runtime, she explores the deepest corners of her emotions, from her struggles with depression to, as showcased on the banger “MS BEHAVE,” her braggadocios, near-manic confidence.
On “MS BEHAVE,” Whack doesn’t hold back, dropping bars over top of a tom-heavy beat with enough stank to make your face instinctively curl up. She’s tracking songs on the first take, wearing multi-thousand-dollar jewelry, and traveling to places you’ve never been. Not only is she misbehaving, she couldn’t behave if she fuckin’ tried. Upon first glance, it’s the ultimate hype-up song: “Your career going good? It’s because I let it/ I’m the greatest rapper ever, yeah, yeah, I said it.”
And yet, within the greater context of WORLD WIDE WHACK, there seem to be far more nuanced emotions baked into the track than simply, “I’m the shit.” With later tracks diving into feelings of isolation, self-doubt, and even stints of suicidal ideation, lines in “MS BEHAVE” that originally came across as ruthless start to read more like a defense mechanism.
“Watch who you call your foes/ watch who you call your friends,” Whack repeats. While, at first, the sentiment seems cutthroat and fearless, as WORLD WIDE WHACK goes on, the line accumulates more and more weight. “IMAGINARY FRIENDS” tackles the idea most directly, while closing duo “TWO NIGHTS” and “27 CLUB” bring it back into focus as the album comes to an end. Upon hitting replay, the narrator of “MS BEHAVE” suddenly doesn’t seem so bulletproof.
“MS BEHAVE” is a peacock of a track, talking a big game while hiding real feelings of hurt and loneliness. It certainly still works as a pre-game banger — the song simply goes too hard not to — but Whack imbues it with additional depth, further developing her own little Whack-y world.
— Jonah Krueger
Editorial Coordinator