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Album Review: Tension by Fridayy
Three albums into a Def Jam run, he opened by out-singing the hook on DJ Khaled’s “God Did.” Fridayy swaps gospel scale for dancefloor scale and turns a…
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
Album Review: It Made Sense at the Time by B-Movie Millionaires
Reunited as B-Movie Millionaires, Lee Scott and Black Josh turn drink, drugs, and their own heads into one of the year’s funniest, best-written rap…
 • Shatter the Standards and Lance “LX” Brooks
Album Review: Love Me for Me by October London
October London sang in the Grammys’ Roberta Flack tribute, and on Love Me for Me, he writes a bar tab and a busy schedule better than he writes the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Nia Lattimore
Album Review: DOOMED! by Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal
Eagle’s relationship ended just as he and Segal set out to build their first album together, and he turned the collapse into DOOMED! that stays funny…
 • Shatter the Standards and Wesley Durham
Album Review: The Womack Sisters by The Womack Sisters
Ten years after a mutual friend introduced them to Daptone, the Los Angeles trio filled their self-titled debut with fares owed, ruined weeks, and men…
 • Shatter the Standards and Renée Holloway
Album Review: PROLIFIC by Nipsey Hussle & Bino Rideaux
Recorded in 2017 and now posthumously released, PROLIFIC catches Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux trading ambition, money, and grief like two men…
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
Milestones: Now by Maxwell
Maxwell made an album about commitment with another man’s instruments and another woman’s famous song. It still sounds like his.
 • Shatter the Standards and Tai Lawson
New Music Drops: August 14, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of August 14th. We know it can…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: fata morgana by L’Rain
Three years after the anti-break-up record I Killed Your Dog, Taja Cheek turns stalled starts, hungry love, and family communion into one continuous…
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
Album Review: Lost Weekend by Phoebe Bridgers
From a nosebleed at the Governor’s Ball to a father’s voicemail, Lost Weekend follows one love behind Phoebe Bridgers long-awaited follow-up and is the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Ivy Mensah
Album Review: StarrGirl by Ayra Starr
The Nigerian pop star packs her third album with money talk and dancefloor commands, then lets the English ballads go slack.
 • Shatter the Standards and Ameenah Laquita
Nobody Was Ready for What Ishmael Butler Did Next
Black Up came out on Sub Pop and sounded like nothing else that year. Plus: Bad Meets Evil’s reunion, MMG’s first group record, Tech N9ne finally…
 • Words Past da Margin
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