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Milestones: Gets Next to You by Al Green
Before the classic run, Al Green and Willie Mitchell found each other’s frequency on a Memphis soul record that still rings.
 • Shatter the Standards and Kendra Oluwaseyi
Album Review: On Everything I Love by KJADE
KJADE’s second album drops all pretense of safety and sits inside the damage, asking how much honesty a person can metabolize before it poisons her.
 • Shatter the Standards and Noura Haddad
Who Told Spotify Hip-Hop Needed New Leaders
Spotify placed billboards in eight cities naming the artists it believes should lead hip-hop forward. The genre’s health was never the concern—the…
 • Blackpolitan and Lillian Sharpe
Album Review: Midnight in Houston by DJ DMG & October London
October London and The Colleagues deliver real-band R&B that peaks at the blackjack table and flatlines at the slow jam.
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
R&B Songs Where Everybody’s Losing the Argument This Week
New R&B songs where Bruno Mars surrenders, Liv.e runs a background check, Elmiene confesses, Saint Harison restrains, and GoGo Morrow hangs up.
 • Soulpolitan

February 2026

Milestones: In My Own Words by Ne-Yo
Before he made his mark as a solo artist, Ne-Yo arrived with credits already on the charts. His 2006 debut made invisible labor visible and built a…
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
February 2026 Roundups: The Best Albums of the Month
February’s best albums came from people who had been holding something back. Jill Scott returns in a decade, Tiana Major9 left Motown and came back…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: Soul Woman by Michelle David & The True-Tones
On her eighth album, Michelle David stops diagnosing the world and starts diagnosing herself, and the gospel-soul she builds with The True-Tones has…
 • Shatter the Standards and Imani Raven
The Lineage of Michael Jackson (Kids / Young Stars)
Each guide is based on this run of albums, believed to be part of Michael Jackson’s roots. It then branches out into post-1995, drawn from that tree…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Album Review: According To... by RJD2 & Supastition
On their collaborative effort, Supastition spends an entire album saying the things most rappers are too proud or too young to admit, and RJD2 builds…
 • Shatter the Standards and Rian Frost
New Music Drops: February 27, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of February 27th. We know it can…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: The Mountain by Gorillaz
Gorillaz finally stop curating and start mourning, producing their least polished and most necessary album since Plastic Beach.
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
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