Shouts to the homie LE for putting me onto Toronto native The Weeknd. Dude reminds me of The-Dream something crazy. I’ve been bumping this all day and it’s growing on me the more I listen to it. Here are some of my faves, but be sure to download the free album ‘House Of Balloons’ from The Weeknd’s website.

Dope tune. Dope video. Dope MCs. Dope beat. Dope mixtape. On the real, ‘Friday Night Lights’ was prolly the illest tape of 2010. Cole is gonna be a fuckin’ monster when the album drops. Love it.

In The Morning Video from Jermaine Cole on Vimeo.

As with our 2009 wrap up, this is a bit late, but that’s life.

What we decided to do this year was rather than list everyone’s answers to every category, I combined all the responses and made an overall list. And from the blog contributors/Fam members who hollered, it seems we all pretty much agreed. Peep the details after the jump…

Songs of the year
Kanye West – Runaway
Laws ft. Emilio Rojas and Big KRIT- Hold You Down (Remix)
Angus & Julia Stone – Yellow Brick Road
Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar
Bruno Mars – Liquor Store Blues ft Damian Marley
Miike Snow – Plastic Jungle
Travie McCoy – Billionaire ft Bruno Mars
Chris Brown & Tyga – Deuces
Kanye West – See Me Now ft. Beyonce & Charlie Wilson
Asking Alexandria – Final Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)

Hip Hop Albums of the year
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (album of the year, hands down)
Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon 2
Nas & Damien Marley – Distant Relatives
Freeway and Jake One – Stimulus Package
The Roots – How I Got Over
The Roots and John Legend – Wake Up
N.E.R.D. – Nothing
Rick Ross – Teflon Don
Statik Selektah and Termanology – 1982
Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot… The Son of Chico Dusty
Celph Titled – Nineteen Ninety Now
Shad – TSOL
Kno – Death is Silent
B.o.B. – B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Black Milk – Album Of The Year
Drake – Thank Me Later
Eternia & MoSS – At Last
Hezekiah – Conscious Porn
Skyzoo & Illmind – Live From The Tape Deck
Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik
Cee & Bekah – The Soul Movement Originals

Albums of the year (other genres)
These are pretty much in alphabetical order as I’m going through my iTunes to see what I was feeling in 2010:
Aloe Blacc – Good Things
Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way
The Black Keys – Brothers
British India – Avalanche
Bruno Mars – Doo Wops & Hooligans
Cee-Lo – The Lady Killa
Chromeo – Business Casual
Dead Letter Circus – This Is The Warning
Delphic – Acolyte
Ellie Goulding – Lights
Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh)
The Foreign Exchange – Authenticity
Jamie Lidell – Compass
Karen Elson – The Ghost Who Walks
Kids of 88 – Sugarpills
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Plan B – The Defamation of Strickland Banks
RPA & The United Nations of Sound – RPA & The United Nations of Sound
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Tinie Tempah – Disc-Overy

Mixtapes of the year
Wiz Khalifa – Kush and OJ
Wale – More about Nothing
Laws – 5:01 Overtime
Freddie Gibbs- Str8 Killa No Filla
Emilio Rojas- Life Without Shame
Chris Brown & Tyga – Fan Of A Fan
J. Cole – Friday Night Lights
The Movement Fam – The Movement Fam LIVE @ The Evelyn Hotel (27th March 2010)
Notion – On The Corner of Notion & 9th: A Tribute to 9th Wonder

Videos of the year
Kanye West – Runaway
Erykah Badu – Window Seat

Verse of the year
Emilio Rojas – Hold You Down Remix
Nobody even came anywhere near as dope as Emilio came on this joint. Incredible.

Show of the year
These were my favourite shows in 2010, the year where I saw more shows than the last few years combined:
Alexisonfire / Norma Jean / Four Year Strong (Sound Academy, Toronto)
The Temper Trap (Festival Hall, Melbourne and Phoenix, Toronto)
Florence & The Machine (Festival Hall, Melbourne)
dead prez (The Espy, Melbourne)
Mayer Hawthorne (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne / The Bowery Ballroom, New York)
Asking Alexandria / Born of Osiris / All That Remains (Phoenix, Toronto)
Dilated Peoples (The Espy, Melbourne)
B.o.B. (Billboard, Melbourne)
Richard Ashcroft (The Palace, Melbourne)
John Mayer (Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne)
Laura Marling (Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne)
Drake (Fox Theatre, Atlanta)
Black Milk (Revival, Toronto)
Emilio Rojas (A3C, Masquerade, Atlanta)
Duck Down (CMJ Showcase, Le Poisson Rouge, New York)
La Roux (Festival Hall, Melbourne)
Angus & Julia Stone (The Palais, Melbourne and Bell House, Brooklyn)
Paul Dempsey (CMJ, Rockwood Music Hall, New York and Ariel Hyatt’s house, Brooklyn / Drake Underground, Toronto)
Newton Faulkner (The Palais, Melbourne)
British India (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)
Urthboy (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)
Jamie Lidell (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)

Rookie of the year
J. Cole
Laws
Freddie Gibbs

Overachiever of the year (artist that did way beyond what was expected)
Wiz Khalifa
I just can’t understand this whole phenomenon. To me, his music is nothing short of average. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to get into the tunes but I can’t. Definitely achieved way more than expected.

Underachiever of the year (artist that was expected to do a lot but didn’t)
Emilio Rojas
His latest mixtape had a damn near superstar line up (production from J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, features from B.o.B., Killa Mike, Yelawolf, etc) and was presented by Travis Barker’s clothing line yet it made minimal noise. Folks will wake up in 2011.

Biggest disappointments
Drake – Thank Me Later and Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Both of these albums were almost unprecedented in their anticipation, yet both were average at best. The still spawned hits but definitely let folks down; or perhaps the hype was just too much for them.

Producers of the year
Kanye West (did you HEAR his album?)
Statik Selektah (he grinds damn hard and is always consistently good)
Tokyo Cigar
Statik Selectah
Buckwild
Apollo Brown

Dopest artists discovered in 2010 (whether they debuted this year or not)
I was MEGA late on a lot of aritsts, but 2010 was my year of discovery. I heard more new music in 2010 than ever before, and it honestly changed my life:
J. Cole (Cyclops’ inclusion)
Laura Marling
Angus & Julia Stone
The Shins
Alexisonfire
Miike Snow
The Temper Trap
Florence & The Machine
Paul Dempsey / Something For Kate
Stone Temple Pilots
Pretty Lights
Ellie Goulding
Pixies
Passion Pit
Parkway Drive
Paramore
Panic! At The Disco
Muse
Mazzy Star
The Mars Volta
Katie Noonan / George
Joshua Radin
James Morrison
Doves
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Bertie Blackman
Beirut

Movies of the year
Stone
Buried
Unstoppable
Twelve
You Don’t know Jack
The Killer Inside Me
The Social Network

Predictions for 2011
Kanye will clean up at next years Grammys
Music will continue to get better, just as it did in 2010 after a shitty 2009
British music will absolutely kill shit. Already artists like Jessie J, Jamie Woon and James Blake are making some serious noise with their unique sounds, including the relatively new genre of post-dub step.

I know I’m late on this one, but I really dig this joint, and the video is hot. Peep game.

Aight, so we’re a bit delayed on this one. But y’all can forgive us. We’d never been to anything like this before, and the shit is hard work. Seriously. Networking. Trying to talk to that producer/MC/DJ/industry dude without looking or sounding like a groupie or a new jack. Yelling over loud music all night. Up early and paying attention to panels all day. It’s a full time job doing this shit. But we ain’t complaining; both of these conferences were some of the most amazing experiences we’ve had thus far with music, and in 2011, we finna be rockin’ shows there, beleeeeedat.

We kicked off Atlanta by scoring tickets to the Drake show at the Fox Theatre. Bonus. Notion and I walked into a room full of people rapping every word to a Soulja Boy song. Oh-kay. Five minutes after we got in there, Drake started so it was perfect timing. Apparently Tyga opened, so we prolly didn’t miss much. The crowd, mostly women and their generally less-than-enthusiastic partners, stood up pretty much the whole time and there was a lot of screaming. Drizzy did most of the joints I wanted to hear bar ‘Say What’s Real’. ‘Forever’ was dope; he even brought Young Jeezy and The-Dream out for their respective collaborations (I have no idea what they are), and the pyrotechnics for ‘Fireworks’ were awesome. Great show.

Drake @ Fox Theatre, Atlanta

So A3C (it stands for All 3 Coasts, for those who ain’t know. I didn’t til recently) kicked off on Thursday at the Masquerade complex in East Atlanta. The venue was dope as it had about 5 stages with either performances, demonstrations or panels on at any given time, so there was never a moment of boredom. We finally got to meet a gang of folks we’d built with over the years but never met in person (as well as a bunch of folks we respect and have admired for years), including North Carolina producer S.T.T.R.E.S.S. (below with The Fam), Kevin Nottingham, Dasha, Hassahn, Emilio Rojas, Hezekiah, Donwill and Von Pea of Tanya Morgan, Che Grand, Big Dho, Chaundon, J The S, DJ Evil Dee, DJ Z of DJ Booth.net, Crooked I, El Da Sensei, Illmaculate, Laws, The Bodega Brovas, Khrysis and a gang more.

Cee, Notion, VP, S.T.T.R.E.S.S. and Bekah

The Fam reppin'

Day 1 was the 9th Wonder interview by Dres The Beatnik, and included guests and collaborators Buckshot and Murs. It was an awesome insight into 9th’s work ethic, inspirations and methods. The rest of the night included performances from Jamla artists like Skyzoo, The Away Team, Rapsody, Big Reemo, Murs and Jean Grae. And of course, DJ Evil Dee was on the mix (c’mon kick it!).

DJ Evil Dee @ A3C

Buckshot, 9th Wonder, Murs and Dres The Beatnik @ A3C

Skyzoo @ A3C

Buckshot @ A3C

Day 2 was full of more shows and informative panels. The two main showcases we caught were Kevin Nottingham’s and DJ Booth’s. Kev’s included dope sets from HiPNOTT Records artists like Jermside, Nobody Famous and the Hall of Justus cats headlined and tore it down (Rapper Big Pooh, Chaundon, Jozeemo and Joe Scudda). DJ Booth’s showcase had sets from cats like J The S, Emilio Rojas, Cyhi The Prince, Laws, Exile and Crooked I. We ventured inside to catch Illmaculate’s set, followed by Seattle native J. Pinder, both of whom murked it.

Nosh even caught Mr Douthit to get a quick photo and pass on a copy of his tribute mixtape to the man himself. And we also managed to chill with Crooked I for a while and explain our move to Canada from Australia to pursue our music, which he said he really respected and that we’ll be successful with that sort of determination, belief and passion. That really meant a lot coming from him. Great dude.

9th Wonder & Notion @ A3C

Cyhi The Prince @ A3C

Crooked I @ A3C

Illmaculate @ A3C

Crooked I & Notion @ A3C

Cee & Crooked I @ A3C

Day 3 was just as hectic. More panels in the early afternoon and the weather was gorgeous. Atlanta turned it on for us, we were drinking beers in the sun; it felt like home. More networking and more shows, including Torae, Sha Stimuli, Lessondary Crew (Jermiside, Von Pea, Donwill and Che Grand), Reks and Statik Selektah, the big homies The Bodega Brovas (Traviii 7th, Keynote and Headkrack), Hezekiah and horn section ‘Me So Horny’ (who KILLED it), The Artifacts, Emilio Rojas, Camp Lo and Rhymefest. All up, it was an amazing festival and we’ll be there next year for sure.

Cee & Hezekiah @ A3C

After a quick couple days in Toronto to do some laundry and re-pack, we were on the bus to New York City to catch CMJ (College Music Journal). Yet another amazing experience; though a little different than A3C in the sense that it was general music business across all genres rather than strictly Hip Hop. We chilled for a couple days to check out the city as it was VP‘s first time, but Notion and I caught the David Icke lecture on the Sunday before booking it to the Mayer Hawthorne show downtown at the Bowery Ballroom, missing half his set. We got to hang with the homie Cyclops too, which was dope.

The Movement Fam & Cyclops in NYC

Mayer Hawthorne @ Bowery Ballroom

CMJ started on the Tuesday, and it was full on. The panels went from 11am to 4.45pm every day, with only 15 minutes break between each one, where we had to fit in any quick chats to panelists and toilet breaks before heading to the next panel and trying to get there early to ensure a seat. It was like being back at Uni. But the information we gathered was absolutely incredible, and the people we met will definitely be either long term friends or business associates.

The first night we caught the New Zealand showcase at Le Poisson Rouge, where we saw awesome bands like Street Chant, Ruby Frost and Kids of 88, saw Blonde Summer over at Kenny’s Castaway (where Bruce Springsteen apparently did his first ever gig), and then back to LPR for the Duck Down vs Blacksmith Showcase. It was Duck Down’s 15 Year Anniversary so they went all out. The 16 year old in me lost my fucking shit when every Duck Down artist (with the exception of Louieville Sluggah pretty much) rocked the stage, performing classics like ‘Le Fleh, Le Flah, Eshkoshka’, ‘Operation Lockdown’, ‘I Gotcha Opin’ and more. Incredible. The newly signed Black Rob even came through to perform ‘Whoa’. No words.

The Blacksmith kids killed it too. Jean Grae and Mela Machinko, Pharoahe Monch and Strong Arm Steady did an awesome job. We bailed after SAS so I’m not sure who else rocked, but it was an incredible night.

Black Rob @ Duck Down Showcase, CMJ

Sean P @ Duck Down Showcase, CMJ

Starang Wondah, Rock and Buckshot @ Duck Down Showcase, CMJ

Mela Machinko, 9th Wonder & Jean Grae @ Duck Down Showcase, CMJ

Pharoahe Monch @ Duck Down Showcase, CMJ

The rest of the week consisted of panels until Friday and shows every night. The soul showcase with Eric Roberson was amazing, the international showcase at 92Y Tribeca was really interesting, we even caught Aussies Paul Dempsey (from Something For Kate) and Angus & Julia Stone doing their thing. Israeli electro artist Onili was awesome, as was closing night with Foreign Exchange (who had Darien Brockington and Zo rocking with them all night, and they even brought out Rapper Big Pooh and Jesse Boykins III). Shouts to the big homie outta Jersey, Mike Philson, who we connected with. So after two weeks of shows every night and early mornings at panels, we’re absolutely shambles. Now it’s time to re-up, consolidate the networks and use the new info we learned. Until next year…

Foreign Exchange @ BB Kings, CMJ

Here’s a new joint from Drizzy from an upcoming mixtape that’s set to drop in 2011. I digs it.

Check out this Affion Crockett spoof of Drake freestyling on Tim Westwood’s radio show in the UK. Shouts to the homie DJ Hyphen and his blog The Audacity of Dope for bringing this one to our attention. I’m gunna flip it around and give you the original video first, because you really need to watch it first.

Even the outtakes are hilarious.

Y’all are prolly sick of Drake. I’m getting there, but fuck it, these performances are kinda cool. Band sounds tight.

I checked out the MTV doco last night, really, really inspiring, especially for us. We have essentially the same tools, we just gotta up our marketing game. Made me realise that we can fucking do this shit. Anyway, check the vids…

So we all know Drake is a fan of blowing things out of proportion. Nicki Minaj‘s skills (oh check out Lil Kim’s Twitter page, she goes IN on Nicki, Puffy and Drake), Jay dropping his ‘greatest verse ever’ on their collab ‘Light Up’…and now it’s the incarcerated Lil Wayne who apparently dropped his ‘greatest verse ever’ over the phone from Rikers Island to the same ‘Light Up’ joint. Check the video. Sound quality is shit, it’s from a recent UStream Drizzy did to promote the album. I hear he’s going to drop a full quality version soon, so stay tuned for that…

I was really hoping that this joint would be a single. This is the co-write with Drake, and it’s the illest joint on Ms Keys’ new album, ‘Element Of Freedom’, for sure.

Interesting video. The whole same scene, different era shit with a racial overtone wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it’s kinda cool. Plus she looks as fine as ever.