There would be no Future without Gucci Mane.

It’s not quite as cataclysmic as it sounds, considering that, in this case, Future is the name of a rapper and not the actual, like, future.

But it’s hard to overstate the impact of Gucci Mane on Atlanta rap. His music birthed the careers of dozens of rappers, including most of Atlanta’s trap heavyweights, including Migos, Young Thug and, of course, Future.

And Gucci’s decade-long reign over rap’s hottest scene also helped cultivate Atlanta’s furious work ethic — something he’s exemplified since his release from federal prison earlier this year. So far, he’s released two albums and plans to release another, The Return Of East Atlanta Santa, in December. Future, one of rap’s most unlikely crossover artists, has been similarly prolific in the past couple of years. So it makes perfect sense that the two would team up for one of the year’s shortest, most quickly made rap mixtapes.

“We knocked out six songs so crazy that I knew we couldn’t just sit on it … This is the freshest it can get. These joints ain’t even 24 hours old. That’s like bringing you in the studio with us,” Gucci told Miss Info about Free Bricks 2: Zone 6 Edition, released Monday night.

For two artists who have helped define the sound of a generation, Free Bricks 2 is a remarkably minor release. At just six songs, it’s a brief jaunt through standard trap tropes: taking drugs, dealing drugs and repping Atlanta as hard as humanly possible. In fact, it’s not even an original collaboration: It’s a sequel to the duo’s 2011 tape Free Bricks.

But what it lacks in ambition, Free Bricks 2 makes up for in throwback gangster atmosphere. The EP’s six songs sound like they could be part of either rapper’s late-aughts output, back when Gucci was more ignorant than contemplative and Future was more concerned with hustling than mending a broken heart. Opener “RR Trucks” is a vintage slice of Back to the Trap House-era street rap, complete with plinking synthesizers, warbling Auto-Tuned vocals and some Rolls-Royce-inspired flexes.

“RR Trucks” is not a particularly memorable song, but it does introduce the return of a nimbly verbose, crude and clever Gucci Mane, whose verse on the song offers up the street-smart punchlines sorely missing on this year’s Everybody Looking and Woptober.

“When I get a chance to vote, I’m votin’ for Monica Lewinsky/ ‘Cause I’ma paint her face like Leonardo DaVinci,” he raps on the song, to what would presumably be a mixed reaction if Donald Trump, not Gucci Mane had said it.

As you might guess for the titles, “Selling Heroin” and “Die a Gangsta” are straightforward, blunt tracks about trapping, and they serve as the EP’s most polished offerings. The trunk-rattling beats find the middle ground between old and new Atlanta production, and both feature absurdly catchy hooks, one by Gucci and the other by Future.

The tape’s back half drags a little, but it features enough semi-brilliant Gucci-isms (“This the kind a dope that makes your uncle sell his TV”) and earworm-y Future melodies that the listen is worth it. With such a short runtime, the return on investment here is excellent: Regardless of the length and relative simplicity of the EP, it’s still the first collaboration between two of Atlanta’s greatest talents in five years, and it feels like one.

Free Bricks 2: Zone 6 Edition likely won’t be in your rotation for long, given its minor stature in the bloated catalogs of both artists, but while it is, there’s a lot to enjoy here. Menacing beats, clever raps and the kind of hooks that make your uncle sell his TV.

What more could you ask for from a single studio session?

3/4 Shells