Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
Words Past da Margin
Wednesday Roundups #137: 23 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from Tiana Major9, Ras Kass, LeVelle, Terrace Martin, hemlocke springs, Chris Crack, The Olympians, alayna, Victor Ray, Amindi…
 • Shatter the Standards
Jesse Jackson Made “I Am Somebody” a Daily Saying
Jesse handed dignity to kids and workers in these words. Say it once, and you can hear the crowd answer back.
 • Blackpolitan and Daliah Green
Album Review: Petal Rock Black by WILLOW
On her sparest record yet, WILLOW confuses forgiveness with freedom and worship with want. Her seventh album is devotional music for people still in…
 • Shatter the Standards and Maya LeRoux
Album Review: The Apple Tree Under the Sea by hemlocke springs
A debut that crams religious panic, body comedy, and fairy-tale violence into ten songs worth of synth-pop, daring you to laugh before you flinch…
 • Shatter the Standards and Darryl Keyes
Album Review: All in Love by LeVelle
LeVelle’s third record commits to love as daily labor, specific enough to prove it. Whether that redeems its possessive streaks is the catch.
 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
Album Review: Set Her Free by alayna
On her sophomore record, the New Zealand singer-songwriter stops borrowing her reflection from others. The writing is sharper, and the self-talk finally…
 • Shatter the Standards and Lillian Sharpe
Milestones: nostalgia,ULTRA. by Frank Ocean
On his 2011 debut mixtape, a twenty-three-year-old Ocean kept reaching for anesthesia, performance, and cinema to dodge a fear he never quite named.
 • Shatter the Standards and Janelle K. Moore
Shenae “Curry” Craig Built Rooms Where Black Women Could Speak Freely
Her organizing was intimate and disciplined. She made space for truth without asking anyone to shrink.
 • Blackpolitan and Seraphina Joy Clarke
Street Rap Cannot Be the Only Passport to the Mainstream
CyHi’s push for more street rap at the center of pop reignited an old argument. When one life path becomes the benchmark, everyone else is cast as a…
 • Blackpolitan and Wesley Durham
Anniversaries: The Greatest Story Never Told by Saigon
This MC went from prison battle raps to an Atlantic deal that tried to muzzle him. The Greatest Story Never Told carries every scar from that war. Just…
 • Shatter the Standards and Murffey Zavier
R&B Songs Where Nobody’s Fine and the Music Is Incredible
New music featuring Monét flirts, Isley bargains, Faiyaz begs, Foxx stares at the ceiling, and Rose and Thomas can’t go back.
 • Soulpolitan
Album Review: War Cash by CRIMEAPPLE & Evidence
The funniest rap album about greed this year might also be the most honest about what wealth costs. On War Cash, CRIMEAPPLE makes that distance sound…
 • Shatter the Standards and Nehemiah
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture