In 2018, the musician and rapper Mac Miller released his fifth album called "Swimming." A few days later, NPR Music released his Tiny Desk Concert, which went on to become one of the most watched Tiny Desks ever.

A month after that NPR performance, Mac Miller died at age 26.

Swimming marked a pivotal point in the late artist's career. His devotion to constant sonic exploration and artistic reinvention had already been well-documented prior to the album's release — the quantum leap from his Billboardchart-topping debut Blue Slide Park to his sophomore album Watching Movies with the Sound Off, his tour de force as a producer on his 2014 mixtape Faces and ability to direct a full band on 2016's The Divine Feminine were evidence of his steadfast commitment to growth in his craft.

Yet upon its release, Swimming was immediately understood by both his fans and critics alike as the high water mark of his career: an album that perfectly showcased the musical chops he had developed vocally and instrumentally over the course of a decade. This understanding was reinforced when, just three days after the album's release, NPR Music published a Tiny Desk Concert where Miller and band performed album cuts "Small Worlds," "What's The Use?" featuring regular collaborator Thundercat and "2009" with a full band.

The now-iconic performance remains one of the highest streamed performances in the history of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series and is now available on vinyl for the first time.

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