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J. Cole Turned the House Lights On In Baltimore
Amid a front-loaded run through The Fall-Off, Cole called for the house lights, ran a five-state roll call, and asked Baltimore to pretend it was from…
 • Shatter the Standards and Kamaria Jules
Wednesday Roundups #159: 25 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from Kenyon Dixon, Bootsy Collins & Buckethead, Nick Hakim, Felix Ames, Corey King, Marco Benevento, Chenayder, Denise Julia…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: GOD BLESSING ALL THE FAT NIGGAS 2 by BFB Da Packman
A Flint mail carrier turned rap’s filthiest comedian checks his MyChart between strip-club anthems. The punchlines and the confessions come out of the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Kamarion
Album Review: I’ll Believe It When I See It by Dave Blunts
Performing from a chair with an oxygen tank nearby, the Davenport, Iowa rapper turns broke friends, dirty cups, and two exes into melodic trap…
 • Shatter the Standards and Kevin Matthews
Album Review: The Universe Is Watching by Buddy Rockwell
On a solo project he produced end-to-end and raps himself, FAZE.ONE writes brusque, sermonizing advice rap that keeps collapsing into an indictment of…
 • Shatter the Standards and Daliah Green
The Handguide to R&B Concept Albums (‘80s Edition)
This guide counts “concept album” in two ways. Some of these records tell a story or use a formal device from front to back; others hold one…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Album Review: Rite of Passage by insyt.
The Canadian rapper-producer made most of these beats himself and raps over them about staying alive as day labor. He carries the weight his verses…
 • Shatter the Standards and Lance “LX” Brooks
Album Review: Greed Tastes Like Power by SUBSTANCE810
SUBSTANCE810 raps about money as maintenance work here, from credit repair to reinvested checks to a box truck at the post office.
 • Shatter the Standards and Harry Brown
Album Review: Kingdom Music for the Hard Rocks by Cargo Cults
Over Zilla Rocca’s hard production, the New York MC swaps wisdom for arcade quarters and funeral suits, a bracing and very funny account of what your…
 • Shatter the Standards and Phil
The Many Facets of Roberta Flack
While most of Roberta Flack’s albums have just been reissued, the time has come to reconsider her work, which brought out the best in every form of…
 • Blackpolitan and Seraphina Joy Clarke
Album Review: My Uncle Told Me Some Real Ass Sh*t on the Phone Yesterday by zayALLCAPS
Producing nearly all of it himself, the rapper turns a run of unanswered calls into a funny, self-incriminating album about needing people who don’t…
 • Shatter the Standards and Randy
Album Review: Bars Not Dead. Vol. 2: He’s On Fire! by Kai Ca$h
The Brooklyn rapper hands his firmest writing to verses with no hook underneath for a diaristic rap album that settles for a good line where a song…
 • Shatter the Standards and Deja L.
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