The rapper-producer bond is at the center of rap symbiosis, but it’s a balance that’s difficult to maintain. Gucci Mane and Zaytoven have embodied that balance for over a decade now. It was Zaytoven who convinced Gucci to start rapping in his basement in the early 2000s, and the connection between the two was instantaneous: “Me and Gucci had a chemistry,” he told The Fader for their oral history of the storied street rapper. “Wherever he went or whoever he teamed up with, I was rocking with him.” The pair has been prolific, releasing hundreds of songs and forging modern trap music in their image. In addition to producing EA Sportscenter, which kickstarted Gucci’s strongest stretch in 2008, and appearing on several mixtapes throughout his career, Zaytoven is the only producer credited on all nine of Gucci’s studio albums. It isn’t an exaggeration to say they changed rap, in sound and disposition.

But time changes everything, and the two aren’t the tag-team they once were. They’ve both strayed from their storied partnership in recent years, in part because of Gucci’s prison stint, but also just due to outright growth and progression. Zaytoven produced the middle work in Future’s rehabilitating mixtape trilogy, Beast Mode, along with hits like Migos’ breakout single “Versace,” and Gucci has worked with a host of producers including Mike WiLL Made-It and Metro Boomin, two guys heavily indebted to his influence who have gone on to shape the current rap landscape. Gucci and Zaytoven always existed outside of each other, but these days they’re no longer defined by it. Their latest joint EP, GucTiggy, is a salute to the decade-plus they’ve spent redefining rap and a testament to their fellowship. Gucci puts it plainly on “GucTiggy Vol. 3:” “Zay, that's my vato, yeah, yeah, that's my Preemo.”

Likely recorded in the six days of sessions that created Everybody Looking, which was primarily produced by Zaytoven and Mike WiLL, GucTiggy is just as rushed as the album and even less polished. But this project isn’t meant to be some great, standalone work, an Everybody Looking companion piece, or even as an informal introduction to the upcoming Woptober project. It’s simply a token of a longstanding, working friendship. The production value is somewhat fitting, almost reminiscent of those early mixtapes that made them staples on the underground and Datpiff circuits. These songs are trinkets, collectibles for longtime fans and disposable Gucci-Zay ephemera for their rap scrapbook. If Everybody Looking was Gucci Mane and Zaytoven rediscovering their rhythm, this is their opportunity to smell the roses.

Still, Gucci is shaking the prison rust off with every flow, working his way back into rapping shape, and even when he isn’t at his full power he’s a formidable presence. On “GucTiggy Vol. 2 (Woptober),” he chugs along steadily, letting his momentum build line by line. By “GucTiggy Vol. 4,” he’s capturing glints of past glory with gems like “I’m so Marilyn Manson, I’m so heinously handsome/I’m more dangerous than famous, I’ll take your grandson for ransom.” Zaytoven is about as dependable as they come, and he lines heavy 808 bass with prickly synths and accenting keys. Things are starting to come together, and on GucTiggy they build back a bit more of the chemistry lost to time served with each breath and keystroke. “I ain’t got not partners, I’m my own partner,” Gucci raps in the opening bar of “GucTiggy Vol. 1,” undoubtedly a swipe at a former comrade like Waka Flocka Flame. But such a bar overlooks his man behind the boards.