On the surface, Daylight seems like one of the laziest Aesop Rock releases. The EP reeks of an attempt to make a quick-buck: a collection of B-sides tacked onto the most obvious single from the Labor Days album. Appearances are deceiving: Daylight is one of the most essential releases in the entire Def Jux catalog, if only for the one-two punch of “Daylight,” and “Night Light.” The lead track, one of Aes’ best singles, finds him at his most whimsical, channeling his inner child and crafting one of his best choruses. Its evil twin, “Night Light,” is something else entirely: Aes goes as dark as he can, assuming a persona somewhere between the Antichrist and a hip-hop Michael Bloomberg. Even in an overtly pessimistic and cynical discography, “Night Light” is an abnormally twisted song — probably why it was not included on Labor Days, even when it’s easily as strong as that record’s best cuts. It’s the literal evil counterpoint to “Daylight,” with Aes matching the songs verse for verse, bar for bar, rhyme for rhyme. Where the former blends feminism and optimism (“Life’s not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman/ You only call her a bitch because she won’t let you get that pussy/ Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests/ Or maybe you’re just an asshole who couldn’t sweet talk the princess”) the latter revels in its own cynicism (“Life’s not a bitch/ Life is a bee-otch/ Who keeps the villagers circling the marketplace out searching for the g-spot/ Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests/ Or maybe you’re just an asshole. Maybe I’m just an asshole”). Both songs are excellent on their own, but they’re more powerful together, so much so that Aes routinely ends his concerts with a medley of the two.

The rest of the EP doesn’t quite live up to the first two tracks. “Forest Crunk” is just an instrumental, and “Bracket Basher” survives by referencing its far-superior non-album cousin, “Dust Storm.” That said, “Nickel Plated Pockets” carries some historical weight as the first “El-P beats Aes” spat over. The sonics are solid, as is the guest spot by Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox, but it sticks out like a sore thumb. Really, the Daylight EP could have been a 7″ single of “Daylight” and “Night Light” and still been one of the best releases from the Def Jux heyday. Come for those songs, stay for the remainder if you like.