Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
The Handguide to Lucky Daye
David Brown left a cult at eight, got cut from American Idol at nineteen, and starved in LA at thirty. Lucky Daye is what happened after all of it…
3 hrs ago • Shatter the Standards and Janelle K. Moore
So Plush on Rodney Jerkins, Darkchild Records, and the Making of Their Debut Album (2001 Interview)
Rodney Jerkins has been tearing through the R&B charts across the turn of the century. The first act on Darkchild, the label he established under Epic…
15 hrs ago • bmr
Milestones: I Want You by Marvin Gaye
Leon Ware built the body; Gaye dressed it in sweat and falsetto. I Want You is a slow-burning desire, a borrowed collection of songs that became the…
19 hrs ago • Shatter the Standards and Imani Raven
There Is Only One Chaka Khan
Since the mid-seventies, Chaka Khan has been a colorful chameleon on and off the stage. She is widely known for her spontaneity and has constantly found…
Mar 16 • Blackpolitan and Raya Sinclair
Album Review: Love Games by Larrenwong
A Bay Area multi-instrumentalist’s second LP charms and seduces with real skill. It rarely risks enough to let anybody see him sweat.
Mar 15 • Shatter the Standards and Jen Mauvais
Album Review: Beautifully All Over the Place by Eric Roberson
A grown-folks record comfortable in its own living room. Roberson’s pen is sharpest when it stays indoors; the pep talks could use a window.
Mar 15 • Shatter the Standards and Jamila W.
Glenn Lewis, Thundercat, Alex Isley, and More R&B Songs This Week
Glenn Lewis is back. Plus Thundercat, Alex Isley, Leven Kali, and Casper Sage. What do we get? Returns, debuts, and a duet that sounds like almost…
Mar 15 • Soulpolitan
Album Review: What’s Bracken by Jeremy Ryan
The Jacksonville rapper’s concept album asks you not to trust him, then spends almost an hour trying to earn your trust anyway.
Mar 14 • Shatter the Standards and Tai Lawson
Album Review: SPOOKY: ACT I by TrigNO
A Columbus rapper with a decade of invisibility writes his darkest, most plotted-out album and dares you to sit through every story.
Mar 14 • Shatter the Standards and Deja L.
Album Review: Push & Paint by Bruiser Wolf & Sheefy McFly
Detroit’s funniest drug rapper and a painter who moonlights as a producer spend less than thirty minutes proving that wordplay can substitute for depth…
Mar 14 • Shatter the Standards and Nia Lattimore
Album Review: You’re Free to Go by Anjimile
On his third album, Anjimile splits open between devotion and disownment. He trades The King’s fury for something harder to fake: the courage to mean it…
Mar 13 • Shatter the Standards and Zaria Farah
Album Review: For Mary by Olive Jones
The Dorset soul singer spent a decade writing for people she couldn’t save. Her first album is the sound of showing up anyway.
Mar 13 • Shatter the Standards and Seraphina Joy Clarke
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture