K’Naan’s Troubador and D-Sisive’s Let The Children Die have both made the Toronto Star’s Top 20 albums of 2009 list. Also, below is Famous’ Top 10 singles of 2009 list as featured in the Star.

5. K’Naan, Troubadour (A&M/Octone/Universal). He went for it, yes, but he nailed it. Toronto-via-Mogadishu rapper K’Naan might have made a bid for the U.S. pop charts with his second album, but there hasn’t been a mainstream hip-hop record this disarmingly smart and original in a long time. He even pulls off collaborations with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and that clod from Maroon 5.

9. D-Sisive, Let the Children Die (Urbnet). Once a lovable hip-hop goofball, Toronto rapper D-Sisive has evolved – through personal tragedies like the deaths of both of his parents, tackled in heart-rending detail here – into one dark MF and a fearless MC who couldn’t give a toss about the genre’s musical conventions.

Toronto Star – Top 20 Albums of 2009

Toronto Star – Famous’ Top 10 Singles of 2009