In an age of streaming excess, cult rappers master the mini-album Three new hip-hop releases show a way forward for mid-level artists: albums the length of a network sitcom, and committing to the audience you already have
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When I profiled Thebe Kgositsile, the poet scion turned ace rapper known as Earl Sweatshirt , in 2018, he shared a refreshing outlook on delivery that has stuck with me. He'd just released Some Rap Songs, a modern rap masterpiece, and at least some of its sorcery was in how much insight he had packed into 25 minutes. Streaming bloat was already in full swing , and the decision, he told me, was more about consideration than curation. "I don't want to waste people's time," he said. "N****s got s*** to do out here, period. I'm trying to say a lot of s***. It's really dense. It can be overwhelming and have an air of exclusivity to it, a pompousness that I feel is only balanced out by me being like, I know what I'm doing to you. So I'ma sprint for you. I'ma act like your time is valuable." In subsequent years, he has stayed true to that promise, releasing lean projects that are 15 , 24 , 27 , and 24 minutes long, their imagined "pompo
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