In rap, releasing an EP is a rare occurrence. Besides all the label red tape it entails, rappers have embraced the more economical mixtape as their answer to EPs. There are a few reasons rappers would opt to release an EP over a mixtape, even in this post-DJ Drama landscape. They don’t have enough material for a mixtape; they aren’t rapping over other people’s beats; or they aren’t rappers in the first place. (History shows that producers tend to favour the EP over other non-LP formats). Perhaps Britain’s premier pragmatist of rap, otherwise known as Sway, is simply tired of churning out mixtapes; he’s already released four and he’s one album into his career. Whatever his reasoning may be, One For The Journey is the “prequel to the sequel,” and Sway’s first release since last year’s This Is My Demo, which was shortlisted for the illustrious Mercury Music Prize.

With ‘This is not my second album!’ emblazoned across the EP’s cover, one of the returning characters from This Is My Demo —- Little Derek -— introduces the EP. One For The Journey EP serves as a good introduction to the British emcee; none of the songs are castoffs from This Is My Demo, though Up Your Speed is revisited as a remix with Houston rapper Chamillionaire, and numbers like True Stories are blanket statements of the rapper’s manifesto. Sway and Chamillionaire exhibit natural chemistry on Up Your Speed Pt. 2, which retains the raceway scenery of the original but replaces the vehicles in favour of newer—and faster—models. The final result is a slick, efficient remix that should appeal to fans of both rappers. Skilioso laces Move Back with guitars that bounce off walls over which Sway drops skillful braggadocio. However, Chiefer is little more than a Sway copycat, and his absence could have freed up space for another DaSafo verse.

Besides these two guest appearances, the other five songs are all Sway. Baby Father serves to remind that Sway’s trenchant wit remains perhaps his mightiest weapon in all his arsenal of abilities. Narrating three tales of misunderstanding, including a former flame convinced our hero is the father of her newborn white baby (when both he and his supposed baby mama are “black black,” as Sway puts it), the song would make a solid album cut were it not for the garden variety production courtesy of Youngstar, whose squishy horns do a good job of conveying a comical context but otherwise don’t lend much to the song.

But the most adventurous song is also the EP’s best. There’s more going on in Ex Boyfriend than your typical rap or pop song. Whereas most rappers don’t get tired of rapping until they’ve put out at least three albums, Sway unveils his off-key pipes as he half-raps-half-sings. Surprisingly, he doesn’t make a fool out of himself, either. Instead, he effortlessly slips into verse while in mid-croon and the infectious tune is four minutes of pop bliss, with melodies more playful (albeit PG-13) and intricate than anything actual singers like Ne-Yo have ever come up with. A friend of mine was sort of ambivalent towards Dasafo until he was swayed into a true believer after hearing Ex-Boyfriend.

As a project between projects, One For The Journey ensures Sway won’t lose any of the hype he’s rightfully earned over the last few years. But as a standalone EP, it feels like a collection of random, recent Sway songs more than an EP that says anything other than, “The second album is coming sometime soon.” The Up Your Speed remix has been available on his MySpace for months and the Stanton Brothers track (Get ‘Em High) seems tacked on simply because Sway’s on it. But it’s nice to finally have physical copies of these songs. And as Sway relays with a tongue-twister on the contemplative Every Man (For Himself): “They wanna copy me but can’t copy / The carbon copy, they’re just cardboard cut-outs / In need of a cup of coffee, if they wanna keep up with me.”