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Album Review: rappers suck. by Cletus Strap
In verses written partly in a rented beach house in Oxnard, the Los Angeles rapper turns a survey of broke friends into first-rate comic writing.
 • Shatter the Standards and Zachary Penn
Album Review: A DREAM FOR A DOLLAR by Clark D
Produced almost entirely by the rapper himself, Clark D’s new album is argumentative and self-incriminating, a Mattapan record that gives its best…
 • Shatter the Standards and Okoye
Album Review: SOULWAVE 2153 by MOONGA K.
Zambian-born and Johannesburg-based, MOONGA K. tells whoever is listening to stand up and keep their head up, and on SOULWAVE 2153, he writes the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Terryl Jameson
Album Review: All Eyes On Shiest by Pooh Shiesty
Recording from federal custody ahead of a February trial, Pooh Shiesty makes incarceration his subject and gets more comedy and grief from it than most…
 • Shatter the Standards and Quinn Baptiste
Album Review: NO ME ARREPIENTO DE SENTIR TANTO by Karol G
The urbano star’s bitter and unhurried new album is an account of the long middle of a breakup, where the wanting and the resentment share every song.
 • Shatter the Standards and Rosa Delgado
Album Review: Dragon’s Breath by Inspectah Deck & PA Dre
The Wu-Tang MC runs his hustle like a job with hours, a payroll, and a supervisor. The writing about work and betrayal is the best thing here, as the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Miles Everette
Blues at the Top with Bessie Smith
Through the combination of toughness in her temperament, her technical command, and her stature as a performer, Bessie Smith would give vocal blues some…
 • Blackpolitan and Imani Raven
Album Review: We Will Be Brief by Defcee & steel tipped dove
Two years after steel tipped dove mailed the beats, Defcee came back and rapped his way through his debts, his age, and a business he calls a mass…
 • Shatter the Standards and Koda Lin
Album Review: What Does It Take to Bloom? by Somi
Somi wrote and starred in a musical about Miriam Makeba before making this, and her own songs here put grief, blame, and leaving in plain, hard terms.
 • Shatter the Standards and Osei Addae
Album Review: WD, Vol. 1 by DyMe-A-DuZiN
Twenty years into his career, DyMe-A-DuZiN turns every grievance back onto himself, and the album is excellent hip-hop.
 • Shatter the Standards and Devon Kai Brooks
Dawn Richard Is Clocking In for Love
The legacy of Static Major turns up in the credits of a new Brent Faiyaz single, while Lalah Hathaway gives her first verse of the week to the…
 • Soulpolitan
JAŸ-Z, Kanye West and the Road 2 the Throne
Teacher and student, partners, comrades, and each other’s fiercest rivals. The story of JAŸ-Z and Kanye, who built a joint album together.
 • Shatter the Standards and Reginald Marcel
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