Tierra Whack

If I'm not at the studio, I'm at home.

That's my real name. That's not like a gimmick or anything, that's my government name, Tierra Whack.

I just surprise myself every day.

Each day I record I'm always doing something different that I've never done. So I feel like I'm a new artist every time I go to the studio.

One-minute songs are easy as hell!

I started music to be myself - to release and express - so I have to make sure that I'm staying true to me and making myself happy.

Me being dark-skinned, that was like a big thing. Growing up, I hated myself. It was, like, weird. Kids are cruel.

I'm still so down to earth and regular. I still be in the projects, I still be in the hood - just regular.

I'm having fun creating what I'm creating.

I always felt more comfortable doing what I wanted to do. Because at the end of the day, I'll be happy.

If I'm at home, I'm just watching a bunch of horror movies.

I honestly don't have like a person that I wanna work with. I'm just always focused on me, and I'm still trying to figure out my sound and what I wanna do. So I'm never really looking for features or something.

To be honest, I'm selfish as an artist. I'm doing what I want to do and what I want to hear.

There was a time in school where I was trying to figure out which lunch table I belonged to. Eventually, I started my own table and formed my own crew.

I'll never be on the level of my idols.

Green Eggs and Ham' is fire.

If I can make it through homelessness, I can make it through anything.

I spent a lot of time in my head, but not like caring about what everybody else thought, just literally in my own world.

I never wanted to grow up. It really is a trap.

As a kid, I was really shy. Technically I am still, but when I'm performing I want everybody to listen.

I grew up around a bunch of rappers and street dudes and they were always like: 'yo! She's a little different but she's her.' They respected it because you know it wasn't forced, I wasn't posing to be something I wasn't.

Playing characters is fun because you get the chance to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

I like to peel oranges.

You know, I'm willing to dim my light so that somebody else can shine because, like, we all have to find our inner lights, and shine in one world.

Being a female in music I just, I want everybody to, all the women to come in, and we huddle up and we work together and we help each other.

I was in the lab for a long time before I actually, like, put stuff out.

Everything's so, like, saturated nowadays. So if you wanna, like, make an impact, you gotta do something different. Do something new.

I just call myself an artist, really.

I fight for whatever I believe in! I've learned to trust myself. I went from a being a rapper to an artist.

When I was 16, I was rapping just to rap.

I decided I wanted to use my real name 'Tierra Whack' when I decided I wanted to make music my career.

When I'm recording, I usually just mumble and hum a melody and then fill the words in as I go.

I love @love.watts on Instagram!

Once I have a wig on, I become a different person. You can't get Tierra back until the wig comes off.

Yeah, I'm a Leo.

I like strawberries, kiwis, and oranges.

Atlanta represents freedom.

I don't like clocks.

I never know what time it is, If you don't know what time it is, you can just move. Time is a restraint.

Growing up people would tell me: 'Yo, you only can do one thing. If you're going to rap, just rap. If you're going to sing, just sing.' It boxed me in. But I just figured out a way to show everything. It's like if you have a job interview, you want to present as many skills as you have.

One day I'll make a rap song, the next day I'll make a pop song, the next day I'll make a rock song, the next day I'll make R&B. I don't have a pattern.

I never do the same thing twice.

I have a really bad memory, to be honest.

I'm always trying to do every part myself, you know what I mean? I'm trying to sing, rap, whatever. I'm trying to do it all.

That's what art is about: to create dialogue. Everybody deserves to have their own opinion.

Everybody's opening up their own lane and it just makes you feel O.K. to showcase what you've got.

I'm naturally all over the place and scatter-brained.

I was born in the summer, but I hate it because I'm allergic to bug bites. I would go play with my cousins, and then we'd go inside and I'd have mosquito bites everywhere. But mine are different - like, they blow up with puss. It's really bad.

Like for 'Black Nails,' I just had black nails - and I never have black nails. It was my first and last time getting black nails. And that's so not normal for me. So when you're recording, you're up at the mic and you gotta name the file, so I just look down and I'm like, 'Black Nails!' That's literally what it was.

Like when I hear a beat, it might make you feel a way, but then it might make me feel a completely different way.