...stop following me round the jungle gym

241. Aesop Rock - "Daylight" (Definitive Jux, 2001)

A short guide to the often confusing lyrical stylings of one Ace Rizzle, focusing on the song "Daylight" (lyrics here).

- The line "the triple sixers lassos keep angels roped in the basement" refers to the infamous 1995 bondage scandal in which three Philadelphia 76ers (tall mormon Shawn Bradley, journeyman shooting guard Vernon Maxwell, and future angry bald man Scott Skiles) were found in a suburban Philly basement (out of the "Daylight") with 5 young ladies doing some rather unsavory things. The scandal forced Skiles to "take an early retirement" and come back as a head coach three years later. Ace refers to Skiles' coaching tenure with the Pheonix Suns in the last lines of the verse, rapping "This origami dream is beautiful/ but man those wings will never leave the ground/ without a feather and a lottery ticket, now settle down." "Origami" is a reference to the Suns' habit of folding in the playoffs, and the last line deals with the fact that, under Skiles, the Suns were never bad enough to miss the playoffs and therefore get a pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which could have given them a superstar good enough to lead them to a title.

- The second verse is riddled with references to the films of Penelope Ann Miller, who had recently ended her three-year relationship with Aesop. Lines like "Sitting there licking log cabin in Charlie Chaplin waddle", "Dispatch a task of infested patch of city goblins", "maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests", and "pass it for some pagan thresh hold" put a depressing spin on some of the actress' famous roles, and the song's oft-quoted "Life's not a bitch...you just call her a bitch cuz she won't let you get that pussy" section speaks directly to the Miss Miller's well publicized cat allergies.

- The chorus ("all I ever wanted was to pick apart the Day, put the pieces back together my way") concludes the song on a hopeful note, Aesop reveling in technological advances (such as CD burners and mp3s) that allow him to re-sequence his favorite album, Babyface's the Day, in an almost endless amount of configurations.