Tunji Ige is a very current sounding rapper. "Sometimes I’m like… Oh my god, this sounds too much like [Kid] Cudi," the then-sophomore in college jokingly worried in an interview with Fader around the time he released his first project in 2014. A couple years later, on Ige’s new EP, Missed Calls, the comparison holds, and he more obviously channels Kanye West and Drake throughout, trying on their flows and crafting quiet homages out of beats. On one song he brags: "This is post-backpack, post-swag rap, the end of trap, and it’s not wack." It’s kind of a corny line, and Ige is actually at his best melding these hip-hop sub-movements he’s hoping to push past, but it’s also an emotionally honest survey of the land for an in-between generation.

Missed Calls is the product of a collaboration between Ige, a 20-year-old Philadelphian son of Nigerian parents, and Noah Breakfast, an increasingly important behind-the-scenes force in the same city. Breakfast previously made up the production half of the college hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang under the name Xaphoon Jones and has more recently clocked work for acts like Jeremih, Rome Fortune, and Baauer. Ige is an inventive, minimalist producer on his own, and Breakfast’s touch articulates his ideas, sculpting rough drafts into finely-tuned productions. The result is a noticeably well-mixed record, and while Ige has an undeniable imitative propensity, Missed Calls also sounds contained and consistent, like it belongs entirely to him alone.

Generally, the EP leans warmly electronic with sounds that swell instead of crackle. Album opener "Change That" splays ambient synths on top of snappy drums while Ige waxes about his come-up. Ige isn’t a flashy lyricist and some of his raps are overly predictable, but his restraint and smart approach to song structure are his best skills, assets that make him more valuable as a hopeful hitmaker than as a cypher cameo. More importantly, he’s got an ear for catchiness and is a capable enough singer to carry his own hooks.

On "War," the only song produced solely by Breakfast, Ige delivers a mumbling and monotonous sing-song, but it works for the sparse, subdued vibe. On "22," a dramatic, self-serious reflection on being an ascendant 20 year-old rapper, Ige is at his most intimate, but remains a vague and low-stakes writer. "The only road I see is by your side / And know I really could be that guy," he sings affectionately. The song sandwiches a 32-bar verse between strategic bridges and a chanting hook. Like the rest of Missed Calls, you might not double back on a single verse or particular turn of phrase, but Ige’s talent is in pushing a song forward and fleshing it out completely.

The best songs on the album are in the middle and in succession. "On My Grind," the EP’s spacey trap lead single, is rightfully Ige’s biggest hit to date and packages his most accomplished burst of rapping into a pair of verses, the first of which bundles a succession of oddball but obvious similes ("She Bollywood dance like Punjabi / Slum Dog nigga eating Mahi," he raps). The minimalist production interlocks entirely, leaving no open space until a breaking point liberates the hook. "Bring Yo Friends" is an earworm with a simple, bassy foundation and ad-libs—a persistent "Yeah!" tacked onto the end of each line—that nod affectionately to Juvenile’s late-’90s bounce smash "Back That Azz Up." "You should bring your friends yeah, bring your friends yeah!" Ige chants. It’s carefree and simple, inspirational and party-worthy. There’s no narrative ambitions to bog things down, it’s just an obvious hit about having fun. It’s Ige at his best, accomplishing a lot with a little.