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Five 2000 R&B Albums from the Awkward Center of the Mainstream
Follow Tamar, Ol’ Skool, Elisha La’Verne, Gerald Levert, and Fishbone, and you get a different map of the year 2000. Follow the producers’ names in the…
 • 
Brandon O'Sullivan
, 
Kendra Vale
, 
Murffey Zavier
, 
Jill Wannasa
, 
Asa McKenzie
, and 
Shatter the Standards
Wednesday Roundups #129: 19 Albums/EPs You Should Listen to In Your Spare Time
With Elujay, Myles Lloyd, Ben Reilly, Awich, SABRI, iAMLYRIC, André Mego, Tawobi, OLA, Flee Lord/Jansport J, Remey Williams, Hus KingPin, and others…
Five 2000 Rap Albums That Tell On the Year That Made Them
Each of these records was asked to do too much: fix a label, restart a career, honor the dead, prove a crew was still worth betting on. But you can also…
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Phil
, 
Brandon O'Sullivan
, 
Javon Bailey
, 
Asa McKenzie
, 
Randy
, and 
Shatter the Standards
Album Review: The Pilot by MAVI
MAVI works out from the chaos of his last record with a sober eye and a heavy heart. This mixtape traces how he confronts the cost of success and the…
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Harry Brown
 and 
Shatter the Standards
November 2025 Roundups: The Best Albums of the Month
With releases from ROSALÍA to Armand Hammer, here are notable releases in November that stood out to us as the best albums of the month.
Our Tribute to Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
His voice moved through decades without ever losing the conviction he carried as a young singer from Somerton. This tribute gathers everything that…
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Shatter the Standards
“Not Just Hip-Hop”—The Hidden Hierarchy Within
Does this language elevate or erase hip-hop’s value? What does it say about respect, legacy, genre hierarchy—and who gets to define “artist”?
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Blackpolitan
 and 
Greg J.
Joe Budden, Megan Thee Stallion, and Gaming as Gendered Arena
Joe Budden’s Call of Duty jab at Megan Thee Stallion did more than drift past bad taste—it showed how casually women in rap get treated as fair game.
 • 
Tabia N. Mullings
 and 
Shatter the Standards
Album Review: 2005 by ian
ian built his whole image on being easy to clown. The meme costume fit a little too well, so without further ado, let us introduce you to the worst rap…
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Randy
 and 
Shatter the Standards
Anniversaries: The Sound of Revenge by Chamillionaire
Chamillionaire’s blend of vengeance and melody gave the album its identity: one moment he’s snarling that revenge is a dish best served cold, the next…
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Javon Bailey
 and 
Shatter the Standards
Five 2010 Rap Albums About Prison, Legacy and Moving Forward
Veteran West Coast ice‑cold bars, Southern trap appeals, and indie‑rap experiments all collided in the same strange year.
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Brandon O'Sullivan
, 
Nehemiah
, 
Harry Brown
, 
Reginald Marcel
, 
LeMarcus
, 
Oliver I. Martin
, and 
Shatter the Standards
Milestones: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
We’re still watching, still debating, and still moved by this lavish, confounding, and brilliant record. Kanye West’s modern man-myth fully came to…
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Phil
 and 
Shatter the Standards
© 2025 Shatter the Standards, LLC.
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