esop Rock’s last album, Labor Days hit hard. The mix of stunning lyrical proficiency and crisp production made for one of the better releases of 2001. His latest EP works along the same lines, using sparse beats to accompany insightful, often abstract lyrics. The Daylight EP works as a great companion to Labor Days, expanding on the theme of prevailing humanity, as well as painting a complicated portrait of our hero. The EP begins with the ultra-incisive and catchy "Daylight." Producer Blockhead’s fluid samples create a magical baroque backdrop, with entwining flutes and punchy bass. "You won’t be laughing when your covered wagons crash," Aesop sneers, lyrically incinerating several hundred years of American treachery. "Night Light" plays out as the evil twin to "Daylight," with certain lines changed. The song works well as a sidekick, but it is not quite strong enough to stand on its own, for it relies on previous knowledge of "Daylight" to fully understand it.

The song "Pocketful of Nickels" features labelmate Vast Aire, who plays a hobo to Aesop’s nervous narrator. As Aesop walks to the store to get some "cigarettes, gum and milk," he is troubled by needy denizens. "I’m trying to help myself out," he reasons with them. As he dodges such characters, he frantically reflects on the city that created/destroyed such people. Throughout the song, snippets of Vast Aire’s lyrics (from Cannibal Ox’s "Iron Galaxy") are quoted within Aesop’s own flow, adding a neat little inside joke to the proceedings.

"Forest Crunk" is an excellent display of Blockhead’s prowess. The instrumental track pulses with energy, it uses samples sparingly and effectively. An organ-sounding tone pulses to a simple, yet involved beat. A bizarre start-stop bridge gives the song unbelievable personality. An untitled bonus cut, possibly the most touching thing Aesop has recorded, is found about fifteen minutes after "Maintenance" ends. He drops the intellectual art-hop façade and careens into a story of an ailing Ian Matthias Bavitz, he tells of a particularly trying period in which four friends saved him from insanity. It is rare for someone to expose themselves so openly to the public, the tune and thus the EP resounds with an uncommon sincerity.

At a whopping 52 minutes (almost forty without the silence at the end), this is more of a mini-album than an EP. Fans of brilliant hip-hop should most definitely pick this up.