Wanted to do this prior to the new year but I was too busy enjoying my vacation and holidays, much like most of y’all. I’m sure everyone has had enough time during the holidays to reflect on the past year, so now it’s time to recognize the best music from our own backyard that came out in 2009. We could have just provided our personal picks but I thought the democratic thing to do would be the let y’all vote on the following categories: Homegrown Mixtape/EP/Free Album of the Year, Homegrown Album of the Year, Homegrown Single of the Year, Homegrown Producer of the Year, Homegrown Video of the Year, Homegrown Artist of the Year, and Most Slept-On Homegrown Joint. Hit the jump and start clicking. Results will be out in a week.
HOMEGROWN MIXTAPE/EP/FREE ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Rich Kidd – We On Some Rich Kidd Shit Vol. 3 (Mixtape)
D-Sisive – Jonestown (Free Album)
Frankie Payne – I Am Frankie Payne (EP)
Famous – Goddess Girl (Soundtrack)
HOMEGROWN ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
D-Sisive – Let The Children Die
Torae & Marco Polo – Double Barrel
Obie Trice & MoSS – Special Reserve
UPDATE: Had to re-create this poll because I had left out D-Sisive, votes got reset but I will add the previous tallies.
HOMEGROWN SINGLE OF THE YEAR:
Drake f/ Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, & Eminem – Forever (Prod. Boi-1da)
Saukrates f/ Andreena Mill – Hot Like The Summer (Prod. Tone Mason)
Kardinal Offishall – We Gon Go (Prod. Supa Dave West)
Saukrates f/ King Reign & Drake – Fades Away
Tona f/ Saukrates & T.R.A.C.K.S. – Fast Pace (Prod. Lyve)
King Reign f/ Saukrates, Tona, & Rich Kidd – Soaring 2 Heaven (Prod. Rich Kidd)
K-Os f/ Saukrates & Nelly Furtado – I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman (Prod. Rich Kidd)
JD Era f/ Drake – Rock N Roll (Prod. Boi-1da)
HOMEGROWN PRODUCER OF THE YEAR:
Noah “40″ Shebib (Signed to “Hip Hop Since 1978″)
2009 Productions Credits:
Drake f/ Trey Songz – Successful
Drake – Houstonatlantavegas
Drake – Lust For Life
Drake – The Calm
Alicia Keys f/ Drake – Unthinkable
Next up: More work for Drake’s debut album, “Thank Me Later”.
Tone Mason
2009 Production Credits:
Saukrates f/ Andreena Mill – Hot Like The Summer
Saukrates f/ Rich Kidd – Salt N Pepper
Empire – Streets Of Toronto
The Real Frequency f/ Grimace Love, Theology 3, Shad, & Famous – Heateration 101
Rochester f/ Daniel Daley – Whats It Gon Be
Quake – 1000 Miles Away
Next up: “Light Up” collaboration w/ Drake & Jay-Z
Frank Dukes (2009 Red Bull Big Tune Winner)
2009 Production Credits:
50 Cent – Respect It Or Check It
50 Cent – Talking In Codes
50 Cent – Tia Told Me
Joell Ortiz f/ Cory Gunz – Line Em Up
Masta Ace & EDO. G – Ei8ht Iz Enuff
Next up: Collaboration with major emcee, thanks to win in Redbull Big Tune battle. Full album with Joell Ortiz, joint with Slaughterhouse.
MoSS
2009 Production Credits:
Obie Trice – Special Reserve (LP)
V-Stylez f/ Royce Da 5’9, Rapper Big Pooh, Elzhi & Phat Kat – Clash Of The Titans
Raekwon f/ Beanie Sigel – Have Mercy
Havoc – Fly With Me
Next up: Full album w/ Eternia, “At Last” in 2010
Boi-1da
2009 Production Credits:
Drake – Best I Ever Had
Drake – Forever
Junia-T f/ Rich Kidd, Arowbe, JD Era, Frank White, & Sinotra – Cash 4 Me
Famous – Ain’t No Use Part 2
JD Era f/ Drake – Rock N Roll
King Reign – This Means War
Frankie Payne – Money
Birdman f/ Drake & Lil’ Wayne – 4 My Town
Birdman f/ Drake & Bun B - Mo Milly
Jack Flawless – Without Further Ado
Marco Polo
2009 Production Credits:
Torae – Double Barrell (LP)
D-Sisive – Ken Park
Kam Moye – Fresh Forever
D.O. – Bully
Next up: Full album with Ruste Juxx
Rich Kidd
2009 Production Credits:
“We On Some Rich Kidd Shit Vol. 3″
Drake f/ Saukrates – The Search
Billy Danze f/ Busta Rhymes – Undescribable
K-Os f/ Saukrates & Nelly Furtado – I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman
King Reign f/ Saukrates, Tona, & Rich Kidd – Soaring 2 Heaven
The Real Frequency f/ King Reign, Shaun Boothe, Rich Kidd, & Richie Sosa – Represent
King Reign – My Baby
King Reign – Somebody Lied
King Reign – The Audacity Of Hope
Regular Robb – One More Time
Wolf J f/ KJ – Backpack Dreams
Junia-T f/ Sinotra & Rich Kidd – Back 2 The Basics
Tona f/ Ayah – Street Of Dreams
Lyve
2009 Production Credits:
Tona – Direct Deposit (LP)
Ayah – Might Not Be
Lindo P – Sunshine
Nish Raawks – My Hook
Next up: Mixtape, Sophomore LP w/ Tona “The Payroll”, full-length project w/ Nish Raawks
HOMEGROWN VIDEO OF THE YEAR:
Spek Won – Hip Life (Prod. Lord Quest)
Tona f/ Saukrates & T.R.A.C.K.S. – Fast Pace (Prod. Lyve) (Alternate Version)
K-Os f/ Saukrates & Nelly Furtado – I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman (Prod. Rich Kidd)
Frankie Panye – Reach (Prod. Tone Mason)
Shaun Boothe – Poor Boy (Prod. Nineteen85)
HOMEGROWN ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Tona: Dropped one of the best hip-hop albums (“Direct Deposit”) of the year, proving himself as one of Toronto’s elite MCs.
Drake: Don’t think I really need to justify this pick, but here it goes. “So Far Gone Mixtape”, biggest singles of the year (“Successful”, “Best I Ever Had”, “Forever”), features on damn near everybody’s song, it’s safe to say Drizzy had a great year.
Saukrates: Even though his album, “Season One” (now in mixing & mastering stages), did not drop, plenty of heat that you can probably expect to see on it did; “Hot Like The Summer”, “Salt N Pepper”, “Ms. Yesterday”, and “Fades Away”. He also managed to drop a crazy hook on Redman & Method Man’s “Ayo”, fantastic guest verses on “Fast Pace”, “Soaring To Heaven”, and “Break Off” w/ Colin Munroe.
Rich Kidd: “Dropped a mixtape, shit sounded like an album…”, produced for practically everybody in Toronto, and stepped up his bars to the point where he’s sometimes outshining the artists he produces for on the mic.
D-Sisive: Not everybody’s cup of tea, but even if you don’t dig the music, you have to respect the consistency and creativity. He showed you the dark side on “Let The Children Die” and then returned to his boom-bap roots on “Jonestown”, winning the ECHO songwriting prize in the process.
JD Era: Even though were still waiting on the official album, Era managed to keep himself very relevant in 2009 through several mixtapes, show-stealing guest appearances (“Cash 4 Me”), and multiple singles including “Rock N Roll” f/ Drake, “Take Off” f/ Saukrates, “Champagne Nights” f/ Lokz, & more.
Shaun Boothe: His brilliant Biography Series caught even the attention of Kanye West, who posted the latest installment (a tribute to Sean Combs) on his blog. He also dropped several singles, including “Music Man” f/ Amanda Diva, “Poor Boy”, and “Concepts” f/ Talib Kweli from hisupcoming “Hip-Hop in 3D” mixtape.
HOMEGROWN LYRICS OF THE YEAR:
Drake – Fear (Prod. DJ Khalil)
Frankie Payne – Money (Prod. Boi-1da)
Saukrates – Hot Like The Summer (Prod. Tone Mason)
D-Sisive – Boom Baba Boom (Prod. Murr)
Kardinal Offishall – We Gon Go (Prod. Supa Dave West)
MOST SLEPT-ON HOMEGROWN JOINT:
Saukrates f/ Rich Kidd – Salt N Pepper (Prod. Tone Mason)
JD Era f/ Saukrates – Take Off (Prod. Saukrates)
Element f/ Promise – Throwback Love (Prod. The ARE)
Tona f/ Ayah – Street Of Dreams (Prod. Rich Kidd)
Theology 3 – 50 Bars, Same Pattern
Cityonmyback.com » NEW MUSIC: Choclair “Made To Move Mountains” (Prod. PHS Productions) on 
C Banga! on 
DJ Bozo on 
Reece Khan on 
My Real Freq’s Homegrown lyrics of the year! – Frankie Paye -”Raining In Toronto” (although ‘Money’ is nice)
Via Linez – “Dotted Line Rap”
Theology 3 – It’s Light Work
Solid picks Justin.
Excellent poll, y’all! really showed what happened in Toronto/Canada for 2009… what a wonderful year it was for our city. It’s only gonna get better in 20T.O.!
I agree Via Linez definitely was definitely left off the ballots this year as a grave oversight.
[...] Leave a Comment Large up Theo3 for putting this one to video, my man is up for a number of Real Frequency 2009 Homegrown Awards. 50 bars ain’t no joke [...]
PRODUCER RICH KIDD …IS DOIN IT ON EVERY LEVEL HE’S STR888 FIAAA!
TO ALL THE COMPETITORS KEEP BANGIN OUT THAT CANADIAN FIAAA!!!
I don’t see how Saukrates isn’t the artist of the year and how Yes! isn’t the album of the year. We’re talking Canadian awards Drake did great down south but his impact here was way less.
[...] Real Frequency Show on The New FLOW 93.5 FM returns with their 2009 Homegrown Awards! Be sure to check it out and get your vote on! Keezy says it [...]
[...] DJ Grouch on HipHopCanada. It’s definitely great to see two albums that we nominated for Homegrown Album of the Year also make it onto his list, those albums being Obie Trice & MoSS’ “Special [...]
Good picks, surprised there’s no K’Naan though! He had the best album of any T-Dot artist… I’d consider him homegrown too, at least partially.
Best-selling album? Maybe. I don’t know about best, although I do respect what he’s doing and his impact, I personally don’t listen to K’Naan’s music.
DOPE!!!! The talent is so incredible it’s really a tough choice all around. I fully agree with Mindbender’s comment….
I respect all the pics, but how was Adam Bomb’s Runnin’ Scared not one of the Lyrics of the year…
Was thinking about something like this….
Leave it to the Real Freq’s for gettin it DONE!
Most of the picks so far seem RIGHT ON POINT!
RICH KIDD…..BIG MOVES this year, Tona (album of the year) Fo SHO!
WILL PASS THIS ALONG AND DISCUSS….
MUCH PROPS FOR THIS…
Skinny, that’s a very good choice, definitely overlooked that.
Damn… I wonder how BIG 2010 is gonna be???
Ummm…
What about Notes To Self – A Shot In the Dark???
How did they not make it on the list?? The album is dope, I finally foudn a copy a few weeks back
I think they definitely deserve to be on the list.
no worries but Bomb is heavy
Good call Dave, definitely overlooked that LP.
Very well put Together with no bias b.s.!
Toronto is definitely on the come up. You guys pay respects very well. What i dont understand is WHY D-Sisive is in the lead for album of the year? LIke honestly, i copped all albums noted, and its either K-Os or Tona with Empire as honorable mention. These are the albums that carried the year and i have not heard one D-Sisive song that can stand with those efforts. His camp is definitely on this. No need to cheat, creepy boy. Set the record straight.
Such a cheater!
Hollerate!