Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

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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
Revisiting 2006 in Rap Music
The South had been knocking on the door for years. In 2006, it kicked the door off the hinges. Mainstream success meant compromise for most artists…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Milestones: All Eyez On Me by 2Pac
Death Row’s resources gave 2Pac room to go bigger than his peers. His fourth LP pairs blockbuster singles with fear, spite, and self-scrutiny. A triumph…
 • Shatter the Standards and Miles Everette
Milestones: The Score by Fugees
How a flopped debut and one Salaam Remi remix bought the Fugees a second chance. The basement sessions that followed changed hip-hop, and then success…
 • Shatter the Standards and Cierra Marcel
The Lineage of Michael Jackson (R&B Roots)
A young genius studied the masters before becoming one. MJ absorbed Jackie Wilson’s screams, Smokey Robinson’s falsetto, etc. Sixteen albums that shaped…
 • Shatter the Standards, Brandon O'Sullivan, and Phil
Album Review: To Whom This May Concern by Jill Scott
After a decade without a studio album, Jill Scott returns with blunt satire, ancestor worship, and sex instructions in the same breath, even when it…
 • Shatter the Standards and Kendra Oluwaseyi
New Music Drops: February 13, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of February 13th. We know it can…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: November Scorpio by Tiana Major9
On her debut, Tiana Major9 sings about money, God, and bad fights with the same possessive grip, and that honesty is the album’s engine. The penmanship…
 • Shatter the Standards and Imani Raven
Album Review: Icon by Brent Faiyaz
After scrapping Icon the night before release, Faiyaz returned with something tighter and stranger. Raphael Saadiq executive-produces a sealed-off…
 • Shatter the Standards and Sydni Carter-Reed
Album Review: Salvation for the Wicked by Ransom, Boldy James & Nicholas Craven
Three hustlers split a hymnal and find cocaine between the pages. Every prayer on this record is addressed to the scale. Detroit math and Jersey…
 • Shatter the Standards and Quinn Baptiste
EP Spotlight: Table for Two by Lucky Daye
Lucky Daye built his career writing for other singers. Table for Two tests whether that instinct holds when he finally shares the mic.
 • Shatter the Standards and Esther Blake
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