It’s a travel day for TiaCorine, who is riding on a tour bus from Salt Lake City to Seattle for her next stop as a supporting act on Key Glock’s Glockoma Tour when she talks to Billboard over Zoom. She turns her camera to show that the bus is going through the mountains — making for an occasionally choppy conversation, but demonstrating the kind of new terrain that Tia’s promising career is now regularly visiting.
Hailing from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Tia (born Tia Shultz) takes pride in her hometown and still lives there with her seven-year-old daughter. But the rising rapper has been out and about a lot more recently — for tour of course, but thanks to her growing popularity she’s also found herself at New York Fashion Week, in Los Angeles for Grammy events and most recently, performing alongside Latto at Coachella.
TiaCorine has been a product of virality ever since her 2018 song “Lotto” found its way to TikTok in 2020. Fittingly, she sounds like an anime character rapping on the song, as her love for the animation style heavily informs her vibrant wardrobe and visuals. Last fall, she released her third project I Can’t Wait, on which she weaves totether hip-hop, rage rap and alternative rock. Tia took inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts for the album’s artwork (video games are another big influence) and earned another viral moment via standout track “FreakyT.”
Produced by Honorable C.N.O.T.E., the song sees Tia rhyming over a beat that reminded her of Memphis rap staples Project Pat and Three 6 Mafia, whom she’s a big fan of. (“Look at me, where she wanna be, call me Freaky T/ Off the leash, I feel like a dog, I get hella flee,” she opens in a staccato flow.) “FreakyT” has been used in over 23,000 TikTok videos, and reached a No. 22 high on Billboard’s Rap Airplay chart. She even released an official sped-up version as well as the first remix of the song…
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