Best New Artist (Unsigned/Independent) of 2009

I guess K. Sparks did the best in our Freestyle entries...

XV really impressed a lot of people this year. He's going places in 2010.

As I said earlier, he passes my girlfriend test of mainstream success. Meaning when I play XV my girlfriend asks who it is. I play a lot of music every day and very rarely does she bother to ask. Mirror's Edge made her a fan of XV.

Cosign with d mac... Two words: Mirrors Edge

What is consistent?

Grab your dictionary, look up "Consistent" and then expect to see K.Sparks staring right back at you. At an unimaginable clip of roughly releasing one song per week throughout 2009, you'd expect at some point to see a noticeable drop in production value at the K.Sparks hip-hop factory. No, you are fcukin dead wrong.

But even with all those records under his belt, K.Sparks remains inspired and fresh. Concepts, hooks, lexis, on-point delivery, real talk, braggadocio and story telling are all present and correct in the most refreshing way.

And as for XV, I've no words that even come close to describe how much I LOVE his music. Vizzy is the Thesaurus' first option when you look up 'positive development'. Check out his early mixtapes. Dude had one of the nicer years in the biz, he needs his just due.

[Resume playing "Undeniable"]

If neither one is signed by year's end, then the labels need to fire their entire A&R staff.

I also agree with the XV choice. That guy is meant to go places.

"My neighbours saw the movers and asked me where I planned to go/Then I pointed at the stars and said I haven't really chose."

Ill be honest, im not a huge fan of either of these 2.

I agree with the staff pick. XV is absolutely great! I think you'd have to be deaf not to sign this guy to a label, seeing how much talent he has!

DEFINETLY K. SPARKS!!! XV is just as awesome and I love both of them but K. Sparks worked his ass off so much this year and everything he has released has appealed to me, eazy choice

Bedstuy on the check in, K. Sparks is that dude. Glad to see K getting the recognition.

Burmy, I can't agree with you more. I can't believe that no one is throwing duffle bags of money to get either of them to sign to a label.

XV had a better freestyle i think and his mixtape is the flyest this year

I prefer XV way better than K. Sparks even though I do like both artists XV just never got boring or repetitive and always scored higher with his great innovative music to keep you listening.

I am also guessing that K. Sparks by far has spent more time on the mic and his music does resemble the word 'consistency' but how much did he spend before hand improving his rapping I mean those beats were Banging, but I got the impression he prepared most of them before he even started spitting in the booth.

Glad to see K. Sparks won this! I voted based upon a few things, the main two things being consistency and quality music. People can talk anout K all they want, but the reality of it all is that there was no other Indie artist that put out as much quality music as K did. 52 songs for Manic Mondays, along with several Mixtapes. K is a star in the making. He has a fan for life in me (and my sister) : )

I prefer K. Sparks better than XV. I just couldn't get into XV's music. Super Senior is a classic. Props to K dot on the win.

K. Sparks hands down baby...