PUYL Favorite Song: Childish Gambino - Unnecessary (ft. ScHoolboy Q)

Childish Gambino gives us his own style of brag track with 'Unnecessary', which appears on his ROYALTY mixtape.  He recruited ScHoolboy Q for a verse, but it's really Childish's show.  This actually isn't the mixtape version of the song.  That one features an additional interlude-type stanza by Ab-Soul.  In fact, all the verses are pretty standard for these guys.  Childish packs his with witty jokes and references, while Q uses his signature style of rushing rap.  The simple, yet ominous beat and the two hooks are the real fine points of this song.  Gambino lists all the opulent things he does and buys, concluding each line by saying "that's unnecessary".  Glover proudly flaunts all the excesses he has access to, and openly acknowledges that he doesn't have to live like this, but he will because he can.

Download: Childish Gambino - Unnecessary (ft. ScHoolboy Q)

PUYL Favorite Song: ScHoolboy Q - Hands On The Wheel (ft. A$AP Rocky)

There are ten days left in 2012 so we're in the homestretch now.  For the rest of the year I'm going to share one of my favorite songs per day from the past twelve months.  First up, I've got Hands On The Wheel featuring A$AP Rocky off of ScHoolboy Q's sophomore studio album Habits & Contradictions.  What really makes this song is the sample.  Kid Cudi's anthem for living life to the fullest, Pursuit Of Happiness, could have provided a fine hook for Q and Rocky's ode to the joys in their lives, but they switched it up a little bit.  Instead, they took a snippet from a live cover by a relatively unknown artist, Lissie.  Her heartfelt rendition is stellar enough in its own right, but the fact that these guys were aware of it and recognized its awesomeness is equally impressive.  It's a testament to the culture of indie music (regardless of genre) and the sharing power of the Internet; ScHoolboy may have had more troubles clearing the sample had this been a major label release.

Download: ScHoolboy Q - Hands On The Wheel (ft. A$AP Rocky)