Mirrorland

EARTHGANG’s third proper album, Mirrorland, comes just two short months after their label Dreamville’s much-celebrated Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation. The recording sessions for that project, as documented by the camp themselves, seemed more like friends hanging out than MCs going to work. For Mirrorland, however, the duo is all business, reclaiming the space they once made for labelmates and collaborators to deliver a more concentrated storyline of their lives as young hip-hop outcasts. “Everybody’s trapping/Everybody’s hard/Everybody’s fucking/Everybody’s broad,” they declare with audible boredom on “LaLa Challenge.” On “UP,” they revel in finding success while moving outside of typical hip-hop circles, and then they come back around to offer fans an alternative to the status quo on “This Side.” They’ve tapped just a handful of guests to help tell the tale, most notably Young Thug, T-Pain, and Kehlani—artists whose voices are similarly distinctive—all while making music under a name that declares them to be proudly of this world.