Shatter the Standards

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Album Review: ROADRUNNER by Destin Conrad
An LGBTQ artist from the Jamaican diaspora made a full dancehall record inside a tradition that has called for violence against people like him, and he…
 • Shatter the Standards and Darryl Keyes
Album Review: Portrait of a Boy on Fire by Houston Kendrick
On his second album, a singer from the Birmingham suburbs puts American bravado in drag, takes Adderall to keep the costume from slipping, and writes…
 • Shatter the Standards and Aicha Odilia
Album Review: Eric Bellinger by Eric Bellinger
After more than forty independent releases, the Compton singer signed to a revived Motown imprint and delivered his best album with one voice, one…
 • Shatter the Standards and Tori Hammond
Album Review: God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops by Rapsody
With a masterpiece of her fifth album, Rapsody went to Ghana and Johannesburg last year, and Mr. Porter gave her tempos from five directions, three…
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
Album Review: The Price of Fame by Skilla Baby
Skilla Baby survived a shooting, made a record with Nas as executive producer, and the autobiography is stronger than the gun talk.
 • Shatter the Standards and Ivy Mensah
New Music Drops: August 21, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of August 21st. We know it can…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: ii by Denzel Curry & Kenneth Blume
Working on an SP-404 and a cheap microphone, Curry and Blume strip their follow-up to UNLOCKED down to nine aggressive, densely rapped songs.
 • Shatter the Standards and Tariq Belson
Album Review: What Are the Odds by Jorja Smith
After three sessions with P2J in East London, Jorja Smith wrote a dozen furious dance tracks about people who lied to her.
 • Shatter the Standards and Zoe Westfield
Album Review: Hazel Eyes by Sam Smith
Produced with a tight circle of friends and partly recorded at Electric Lady, Smith’s fifth album splits between love songs that drag on sentiment and…
 • Shatter the Standards and Charlotte Rochel
Milestones: Mother by Cleo Sol
Cleo Sol sang about becoming a mother, but the album’s sharpest song is aimed at her own. The simplicity that risked making the whole thing disappear is…
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
Milestones: Blonde by Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean finessed Def Jam on a Friday. The record he dropped Saturday turned out to be one of the decade’s best.
 • Shatter the Standards and magwilli hughes
Album Review: Gentlewoman by Cleo Sol
On her fifth album, the SAULT vocalist crosses a rotating cast of players to stripped-down acoustic soul with a full band and writes songs about the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
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