New York artist Uncommon Nasa had a great run in the 2010s, ending the decade by producing Chekov’s Gun by Last Sons, which came out just over a year ago. Now, as the new decade beings with everyone stuck inside, he gives us a short collection of songs he made with Lyle Horowitz, Ornate.

Horowitz has produced for Uncommon Nasa before, with appearances on albums such as New York Telephone and Land of the Way It Is. Those tracks where good, but sometimes in the course of an album like those two, you don’t necessarily realize the specific chemistry an emcee and producer have together. The beauty of a project like Ornate is that even as short as it is at just four tracks, the focus is more intensified on the interplay between the beats and the rhymes. This is all to say that Ornate opens very strongly with the title track, with Uncommon Nasa demanding your full attention on the mic, flowing at a deliberate pace with a very clear annunciation as Horowitz puts down this minimal jazzy beat. It plays out in such a way with bass, reverb-heavy guitar, flute, and organ that you walk the line between beat poetry and hip hop. Uncommon Nasa finds a way to speak a mantra into the universe of “We ornate/just to keep livin’” without sounding preachy, mostly by using his verses to acknowledge the problems of the world and the struggles to make it through the day, but then pivoting toward optimism and looking for a brighter tomorrow. The EP is smartly sequenced, with that sound built upon in the second track, “Werewolves Escape, Battle and Talk,” before turning towards the gritty underground boom bap of “Words Sung.” Everything culminates in the grandeur and dark cinematic tones of “A Walk on East 11th Street,” with Uncommon Nasa asking big philosophical questions of his city as he contemplates an uncertain future.

Ornate might seem like a small release on paper, but in reality it’s one of Uncommon Nasa’s strongest statements as an artist. His chemistry with Lyle Horowitz is strong, and Horowitz finds a sweet spot between pushing Nasa outside his comfort zone and giving him beats right in his wheelhouse. On top of all this, Nasa just sounds as hungry and inspired as he’s ever been.