Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
Milestones: Aaliyah by Aaliyah
One of the most influential R&B albums of the 2000s, it was commercially sinking when she died. Everything it became happened without her.
 • Shatter the Standards and Kenya DuRant
Album Review: Beard by Syd
Four years after Broken Hearts Club, Syd co-produced a set of love songs about liquor, holsters, and borrowed hoodies.
 • Shatter the Standards and Sydni Carter-Reed
Album Review: Set In Stone by Rick Ross
Five years after his last solo album, the kingpin fantasy is now a Miami institution. Set In Stone moves at yacht speed and stops at the funeral home as…
 • Shatter the Standards and Zachary Penn
Album Review: Emotional Junglist by Nia Archives
Written through a romance that ended with the police at her door, the Leeds junglist’s new album swaps rave euphoria for guitars, duets, and danceable…
 • Shatter the Standards and Monica LaSalle
Album Review: how the f*** does everybody else manage? by Kamal.
Five years after lockdown made him a fixture of whispered British bedroom pop, the Harlesden singer puts glass shards, benzos, and dying friendships on…
 • Shatter the Standards and Ameenah Laquita
New Music Drops: July 17, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of July 17th. We know it can be…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: Fix Your Face by Masego
The saxophone loverman brings grief and heartbreak into a decade of easy charm.
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
Album Review: Sock It 2 My Pocket by Rome Streetz
On his way out of Griselda’s orbit and onto Nas’s Mass Appeal, the Queens rapper keeps the loops cold and the drums lean. Rome Streetz raps like every…
 • Shatter the Standards and Quinn Baptiste
Album Review: Daughter from Hell by Gracie Abrams
Written and recorded with Aaron Dessner, Gracie Abrams’ third album casts her as the one doing the damage.
 • Shatter the Standards and Charlotte Rochel
Album Review: Oh yeah? by Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy cut much of his third album in Paris with a clear head for the first time. The love songs that came back are the most direct he’s ever sung.
 • Shatter the Standards and Reuben Dara
EP Review: Twenty Something by Jaz Karis
Reunited with the sound that introduced her, the South London singer turns the fights, unsent texts, and unreturned calls of her twenties into her…
 • Shatter the Standards and Zoe Westfield
EP Review: Lady Luck by Olympia Vitalis
A painting about money on her producer’s wall became a song about fire. On her second EP, West London’s Olympia Vitalis writes want as the habit that…
 • Shatter the Standards and Jill Wannasa
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture