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Milestones: 8701 by Usher
The Atlanta R&B prodigy’s third album was gutted by Napster and rebuilt by a committee of hitmakers who bet everything on his voice over his…
 • Shatter the Standards and Kendra Oluwaseyi
New Music Drops: August 7, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of August 7th. We know it can be…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: DO YOU SEE ME? by Q
The South Florida singer and producer’s follow-up to Soul,PRESENT is a long address to a boy who won’t listen, his falsetto staying soft over cops…
 • Shatter the Standards and Marjani Fields
Album Review: Blue Island by Ravyn Lenae
On her second album with Dahi executive producing, the Chicago singer moves from character studies into first-person accounts of leaving that put a…
 • Shatter the Standards and Chiamaka Boudreaux
Milestones: King’s Disease II by Nas
A Queensbridge rapper and a Fontana producer locked the door, kicked everyone out, and made one of the strongest Nas albums in his discography.
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
Album Review: Therapy at the Club by FLO
Writing with Amy Allen, Steph Jones, and Julian Bunetta, FLO turn a run of bad romances into pop-R&B that admits fault before anybody lays a charge.
 • Shatter the Standards and Charlotte Rochel
Milestones: Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band by Bootsy’s Rubber Band
The album where P-Funk’s wildest bassist stopped playing behind other people’s concepts and discovered he had his own.
 • Shatter the Standards and Imani Raven
Wednesday Roundups #160: 25 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from DOMi & JD BECK, Kurupt & DJ Battlecat, Cautious Clay, Patchwork Inc., CRIMEAPPLE, Romi Wrights, Dave East & Harry Fraud…
 • Shatter the Standards
EP Review: Catch n’ Release by Fana Hues
On Catch n’ Release, Fana Hues turns leaving into instructions plain enough to follow.
 • Shatter the Standards and Tabia N. Mullings
The True R&B Songs of the Summer in 2026
Thirty R&B songs got played to death around here between May and July. As a sequel to last year’s column, do not let anybody tell you that there are no…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Album Review: $TARFACE by $TARFACE
Working from a character he built for a film he’s developing, Tyga sings the story of a coke runner who loses everything he counted, and the results are…
 • Shatter the Standards and Asa McKenzie
Album Review: Mood 2 by Jacquees
On a sequel to his beloved 2016 mixtape, Jacquees’ latest is an unhurried, sexually explicit R&B record built around one collapsing relationship…
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
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