2009 was a fantastic year for music and as we head into a new decade, its time to reflect on the best releases of the previous year.  Since the focus of this site is live music and we’re discussing studio albums here, we decided to add a new, exclusive live song from each artist who made our list.  So without further ado, here is ATWL’s Top 10 Albums and Mixtapes of the year.

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K’Naan dropped by the studios at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic recently for a live session.  He and his talented band went through a nice mix of old and new songs and gave some great insight into his upbringing in some of the interview portions.  I’m really glad to see K’Naan gain a lot of popularity this year with his release of Troubadour, he’s come a long way and the recognition is well deserved.  Here’s a video stream of the entire 40 minute live session as well as audio streams/downloads.

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Everyone’s favorite summer hip-hop super tour finally landed in New York as Jones Beach was home to Rock The Bells this weekend.  The highlight of the day was clearly Damian Marley and Nas, performing together, in support of their highly anticipated upcoming album, Distant Relatives.  The duo premiered a handful of new songs from the project, which all sound amazing so far, but the most impressive was “Africa Must Wake Up”, which fittingly features Somalian-born rapper, K’Naan.  I’ve had Damian’s catchy and beautiful hook stuck in my head ever since the show, and you most likely will as well after the jump.  Rastafarianism! (c) Ras Trent.

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K’Naan has been busy as of late promoting his latest album, Troubadour, by doing various shows across the country.  He stopped by NPR’s stage at The Parish in Austin, TX at SXSW this past week for a brief, but awesome live set.  His band is on point as usual and the dusty foot never disappoints.  Download or stream the set right here.

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Well, I guess we can officially call it K’Naan week here at AllTheWayLive.  I just stumbled across this nearly complete soundboard recording of his album release show from The Mod Club in Toronto this past Tuesday, courtesy of our friends north of the border at CBC Radio 3.  Hit the jump to stream/download the show.

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K’Naan was one of the featured artists on Hot 97’s monthly “Who’s Next?” series at SOB’s earlier this week.  Equipped with a full live band, he absolutely tore it down.  Of course, All The Way Live was in the building and has the exclusive audio of “T.I.A.”, “Dreamer” and “ABC’s” with the veteran Chubb Rock joining him on stage.  Some bonus video thrown in for good measure as well.  Please show your support and get K’s new album, Troubadour, which hit store shelves and internet outlets everywhere this past Tuesday.

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