As we head into the final days of 2011, its time to reflect back on the musical releases this year and examine the best music from the past 12 months.  Compiling this list was no easy task as it was a year stacked with quality releases.  As with last year, since the focus of this site is always live music and we’re discussing studio albums, we’re providing a new live song from each artist who made the list.

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Recess, which consists of Brooklyn emcee Sene and the musical collective  The Clubhouse, took the stage at Tammany Hall in NYC last Sunday as part of the Kicks for Cancer event.  Their free EP hasnt left my rotation since it was released back in March (check it out here), so I was very excited to see how the music translated in the live setting.  After the 8-piece group crammed into place on the small stage, the energy in the building lifted as the crowd sensed that something real dope was about to transpire.  They didn’t disappoint either, breezing through selections from their debut EP, including bring out Fresh Daily and Nicholas Ryan Gant for “Au Revoir”.  The whole set was great with the only gripe being the set clocking in at a brief 25 min.  Here’s our exclusive recording of their performance.

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Recently, Homeboy Sandman took the stage at Drom in NYC as part of Eprhyme’s CD release party event.  As usual, the AOK roster showed up to support as he was joined by P.So (aka P CASSO), Fresh Daily and 8THW1.  Our partners in crime, 5846 Films, were once again in the building to film the show exclusively for ATWL as well as get some backstage interviews with everyone who performed.  Here is a dope trailer for AOK – Live @ Drom and be sure to check back often as next week as we will begin releasing the live footage of the show. Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh Daily, Homeboy Sandman & John Robinson were among the many guests in the house for DJ Spinna’s album release party at Southpaw in Brooklyn recently.  Get your copy of Sonic Smash, available now on iTunes.

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Fresh Daily made an appearance at The Roots Jam @ Highline Ballroom last night and tore it down.  He spit a few bars, freestyled then traded verses with Black Thought as Riq Geez blazed through his verses from Hardware.  I love that The Roots are down with the AOK crew, as Homeboy Sandman rocked with The Roots at The Jam a few weeks ago as well.  All we need now is P. CASSO to come through to the $10 Bill Show.  In case you aren’t familiar with Fresh Daily, check out his excellent mixtapes Winter Fresh and Tomorrow Is Today.

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