Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
Milestones: Parade by Prince & The Revolution
Prince's post-Purple Rain restlessness yielded his most playful and peculiar funk record disguised as a film soundtrack. It also contains the saddest…
 • Shatter the Standards and Keziah Amara Reid
A Rock ‘n’ Roll Entrance: Black Women Pioneers
All of these rock ‘n’ roll pioneers were African American, coming from jazz, rhythm ‘n’ blues, and even gospel backgrounds. They took an active…
 • Blackpolitan and Esther Blake
March 2026 Roundups: The Best Albums of the Month
From comeback records to quiet stunners, March proved that the year’s best music might already be behind us. Jazz, soul, rap, and everything in between…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: Garden Dance by Rap Man Gavin
A Cape Town–Providence rap album about plant medicine and historical erasure that never separates the personal from the political.
 • Shatter the Standards and Kendra Vale
Album Review: Days of You. by chromonicci
A beatmaker’s second vocal album runs on groove and desire, convincing enough when the details show up.
 • Shatter the Standards and Amaya🎀
New R&B from Elmiene, Jenevieve, Noah Guy, rum.gold, and Isaia Huron
Five new R&B tracks about staying too long, giving too much, and refusing to leave. Debut albums and a breakup concept record led the week.
 • Soulpolitan
Album Review: Skeletor by Chief Keef
A man who built Drill’s blueprint at 16 is 30 now. Chief Keef made his most autobiographically detailed album. It’s the best thing he’s done in a mighty…
 • Shatter the Standards and Nia Lattimore
Milestones: Return of 4eva by Big K.R.I.T.
The Mississippi rapper and producer’s magnum opus of a mixtape is Southern rap’s warmest, most self-assured free album of 2011.
 • Shatter the Standards and Noura Haddad
Album Review: EXTRA CHEESE by NAHreally
The Massachusetts MC’s tenth release wrings a whole album from the pleasures and anxieties of being pretty good. Nobody rapping this candidly about…
 • Shatter the Standards and Mina Abdel
Milestones: Fishscale by Ghostface Killah
The Wu-Tang veteran’s fifth solo album trades kingpin fantasy for basement stress, a late-career monument to urgency and unresolved damage.
 • Shatter the Standards and Fallon Reese
Milestones: King by T.I.
Between a film role and a presumptuous title, T.I. calls himself royalty, raps the same block biography three albums running, and dares anyone to argue.
 • Shatter the Standards and L. Ari James
Album Review: Whatever’s Clever! by Charlie Puth
Charlie Puth makes his most personal album with BloodPop®, and a guest list spanning three decades. The directness holds.
 • Shatter the Standards and Rosa Delgado
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture