J.Lately is a Bay Area emcee who has distinguished himself over the last few years by collaborating with artists such as Deuce Eclipse, as well as releasing excellent solo material as well. Just about a year ago, he dropped his best album to date, Tuesday. Now he’s returned with a new project, Campfire EP.

In a lot of ways, Campfire EP sounds like a continuation of Tuesday, and I mean that in the best way possible. Working mainly with producer Trey C., the album is very pop friendly and has a great bounce to the beats, which fits J.Lately’s flow perfectly. Lately has a real laid back melodic swing to his flow, which he’s able to draw out in his verses when he’s getting real personal with his lyricism, but then he’s able to snap back like a rubber band and deliver some big sing-along hooks. Over the course of these five songs, he’s not getting outside of himself. He’s just keeping it simple and rapping about what he knows, which is his love life, his life on the road, his anxiety, and his love of weed. It might not sound like much on paper, but J.Lately delivers all of this with the right mix of honesty and charisma to keep you engaged as a listener and form a personal connection to the music.

Sometimes you don’t need to overthink it. Coming off of Tuesday, which was a big step for J.Lately, he doesn’t mess with the formula too much on Campfire EP. He switched producers, but even then, Trey C. and Space Cadet work in very similar styles, so you don’t have to take a big leap to get a feel for what this project sounds like. Really, this is just good West Coast hip hop that you can sing along to this summer.