Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
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
Album Review: No Era for Margins by Rasheed Chappell
Active since 2009, Rasheed Chappell takes his time centering Christian, Five-percenter, and Islamic imagery, while Reckonize Real gives him low-lit…
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture