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EP Spotlight: Neptune by Gallant
On his self-released 2021 EP, Gallant stops performing pain and starts cataloging the specific ways he’s failed at love.
 • Shatter the Standards and Kendra Oluwaseyi
Milestones: The Dude by Quincy Jones
Jones’ final A&M record turned an art gallery impulse and a $50 demo singer into the blueprint for ’80s R&B.
 • Shatter the Standards and Monica LaSalle
Milestones: The Coming by Busta Rhymes
On his 1996 solo debut, the former Leaders of the New School frontman treated language as demolition equipment, and if the architecture he wrecked was…
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
Wednesday Roundups #142: 25 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from Ego Ella May, Terrace Martin, MT Jones, S. Fidelity, Da Flyy Hooligan, T.K. Soul, Selah Sue & The Gallands, Mali Wilson…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: BULLY by Kanye West
Ye swore the AI vocals were gone. The album still sounds like nobody’s home.
 • Shatter the Standards and Nia Lattimore
Album Review: The Return by Erica Mason
A queer Christian rapper from Williston, Florida, packs her debut with church indictments, depression duets, and abundance theology.
 • Shatter the Standards and Fallon Reese
Album Review: The Understudy by Wyatt Waddell
Six years of delays and a debut built entirely on live instrumentation make a strong case for Waddell’s musicianship, even when his lyrics settle for…
 • Shatter the Standards and Nia Lattimore
Album Review: Supreme Cut Untouched Magnificence II by Da Flyy Hooligan
A Harlesden rapper stocks his sequel with Conway, Gunn, and a posthumous Sean Price verse over vintage drumless Agor loops. The bravado is real, but so…
 • Shatter the Standards and Noura Haddad
Album Review: Hot Seat by Domani
On Hot Seat, Domani sounds like two different rappers. One of them is worth following beyond the beef cycle.
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
Album Review: Better Than Yesterday by Lebra Jolie
On her Interscope debut LP, the Houston freestyler pours out Fifth Ward grief and nonstop bravado in unequal measure.
 • Shatter the Standards and Jill Wannasa
Album Review: Words Are Spells, Thoughts Are Magic by Witch Prophet
Witch Prophet’s fourth album turns brain tumor recovery into plain-spoken demands—for protection, for boundaries, and for the right to want.
 • Shatter the Standards and Janelle K. Moore
LaRussell’s Engineer Told Him Not to Drop “Heaven Sent,” and He Should Have Listened
The Vallejo rapper put Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Epstein, and Donald Trump in the same bar as Malcolm X and MLK. His defense crumbles on contact with the…
 • Blackpolitan and Jamila W.
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