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The 100 Best Albums of 2025
2025 didn’t need a single story to explain why the music hit. A year of returns, debuts, and sudden left turns. This list follows the records that made…
 • Shatter the Standards
Ranking the Best Mass Appeal Albums from the “Legend Has It…” Series
Nas built a label campaign around legacy and loss. Most of them aimed higher than nostalgia. The seven albums that followed proved that legends still…
 • Miles Everette and Shatter the Standards
Five 2010 R&B Albums Built on Loyalty, Not Reinvention
2010 R&B had stars, lifers, and quiet assassins sharing the same calendar. These five albums prove how many ways a voice can hold power without chasing…
 • Phil, Imani Raven, Tai Lawson, Seraphina Joy Clarke, Keziah Amara Reid, and Shatter the Standards
The 80 Best Rap Albums of 2025
A list for people who listen first and argue later. No declarations, no coping, no “rap is back” sermons. Forget the headlines and the mood-board takes…
 • Shatter the Standards
Five 2000 R&B Albums That Made “Second Tier” Feel Essential
Male vocal groups, a new solo voice, a legacy act, and two soundtracks argue about what R&B is supposed to feel like. Chicago, Atlanta, and old-guard…
 • Brandon O'Sullivan, Murffey Zavier, Jill Wannasa, Asa McKenzie, and Kendra Vale
Five 2000 Rap Albums You Hear Differently When the Smoke Clears
These are the records where West Coast pride, Southern hustle, and New York ambition all collide without a referee. The mess is the point, and the mess…
 • Brandon O'Sullivan, Phil, Javon Bailey, Randy, Asa McKenzie, and Shatter the Standards
The Additional 30 Best R&B Albums of 2025 (Honorable Mentions)
These R&B records strip away the excess to reveal raw emotion and deft musicianship. From neo-soul meditators to funk-infused groove masters, they prove…
 • Shatter the Standards
The 50 Best R&B Albums of 2025
While pain, joy, and everything in between are found in these songs, rising stars, veterans, and legends shared stages across 2025. Even amid…
 • Shatter the Standards
Five 2000 R&B Albums That Lived in the Shadows
Between Moore’s polished risk, Sweat’s unshaken slow-jam discipline, K-Ci & JoJo’s Southern-soul obsession, and more, these albums show how messy…
 • Brandon O'Sullivan, Jill Wannasa, Kendra Vale, Murffey Zavier, Asa McKenzie, and Shatter the Standards
Five 2000 Rap Albums That Tell on Their Era
These projects catch Ja Rule, E-40, CNN, Afu-Ra, and Dice Raw in motion rather than in control. The friction between what they could do and what they…
 • Brandon O'Sullivan, Phil, Javon Bailey, Randy, Asa McKenzie, and Shatter the Standards
The Best Hip-Hop, Pop, and R&B EPs of 2025
The records that matter are giving these fans top-tier appetizers and doing it in over or under twenty minutes. Here are the best hip-hop, pop, and R&B…
 • Shatter the Standards
The 50 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
A multigenerational conversation in sound. You’ll hear legends and newcomers weaving fresh narratives; jazz in 2025 will not be pinned down. Expect…
 • Shatter the Standards
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