Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
New Music Drops: June 26, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of June 26th. We know it can be…
 • Shatter the Standards
EP Review: and all pride aside by kwn
kwn opens this EP claiming she could put any woman on all fours and ends it praying over someone she’s losing.
 • Shatter the Standards and Marjani Fields
Milestones: Peace Beyond Passion by Meshell Ndegeocello
The album that named homophobia with a slur and Christianity with a question mark was too honest for a music industry that preferred its Black women…
 • Shatter the Standards and Darryl Keyes
Milestones: Keith Sweat by Keith Sweat
Four million copies of unchanged Keith Sweat, arriving when everyone counted him out. The begging worked better than the reinvention.
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
Milestones: Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, The Creator
Tyler asked the Grammys why he couldn’t be in pop, then made a Gangsta Grillz album. It won Best Rap Album anyway.
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
Milestones: Reasonable Doubt by JAŸ-Z
The drug dealer’s debut built a billion-dollar empire. Thirty years later, nothing else in his catalog sounds this hungry or this scared.
 • Shatter the Standards and L. Ari James
The Handguide to R&B Concept Albums (‘70s Edition)
By the decade’s end, the “concept album” had become a proving ground where Black artists negotiated technology, politics, and commerce on their own…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Milestones: 4 by Beyoncé
The most important Beyoncé album is the one nobody was ready for. She made a whole record about loving one man, and it rewired everything that came…
 • Shatter the Standards and Tai Lawson
Wednesday Roundups #155: 25 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from The War and Treaty, PJ Morton, Tierra Whack, Dylan Sinclair, Glenn Lewis, Ama, Big Freedia & SOPHIE, Devin Morrison, RJ…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: Divided Times by Qwel & Nightwalker
On Divided Times, teaming up with Nightwalker, Qwel raps about what’s killing people, from capitalism to his city’s blocks to the self.
 • Shatter the Standards and Harry Brown
Album Review: Water to Wine by Cashus King & Big O
Cashus King and Big O build fourteen tracks on the miracle at Cana. Addiction, grief, and Black history become his most exact writing yet.
 • Shatter the Standards and Lance “LX” Brooks
Album Review: Outside the Lines by Shabaam Sahdeeq & Es-K
Thirty years past the open mics, the Brooklyn vet raps his parasite detox, the quiet life, and the boombox his mother bought.
 • Shatter the Standards and Quinn Baptiste
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture