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Milestones: The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein by Parliament
Less than a year after the Mothership landed, George Clinton cloned himself an army, and Parliament’s fifth album turned funk’s silliest premise into…
 • Shatter the Standards and Imani Raven
Too Smart for the Room
The belief that rap audiences run from intelligence gets the defendant wrong; the case belongs to the industry, and to a country that once wrote Black…
 • Blackpolitan, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Alexandria Elise
Album Review: In the Hour of Chaos by Allison Russell
After two albums telling her own survival story, the Montreal songwriter starts making house calls. Her third is the warmest, most crowded record of her…
 • Shatter the Standards and Tayla North
Album Review: THIS CANNOT BE SOLD by KB
On THIS CANNOT BE SOLD, KB fences off his marriage, his kids, and his doubt, and his writing has never been better.
 • Shatter the Standards and Murffey Zavier
Five R&B Songs Warming Us Up This Week
A wildfire survivor turns grief into a gospel come-on, two 2000s hitmakers age their seduction into something warmer, and a Raphael Saadiq production…
 • Soulpolitan
Album Review: Who Coppin by Larry June
A decade removed from trap phones, the San Francisco player preaches compound interest and finally explains who all the advice was for.
 • Shatter the Standards and L. Ari James
Album Review: why do women jump in the fire? by Avara
The Marietta-raised singer-producer follows her collaborative healing tape with Hindi-laced R&B love songs that keep striking matches.
 • Shatter the Standards and Priya Okafor
Album Review: self by Nao Yoshioka
At 20, she left Osaka for New York to learn soul music at its source. self turns that education into the fullest, most honest singing of her career.
 • Shatter the Standards and Dai Kurihara
Album Review: PEYOTE by Ambré
After years of writing love songs for Kehlani and serpentwithfeet, the New Orleans singer takes the lead voice back. PEYOTE is about desire, disgust…
 • Shatter the Standards and Renée Holloway
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
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