Album Review: The Price of Fame by Skilla Baby
Skilla Baby survived a shooting, made a record with Nas as executive producer, and the autobiography is stronger than the gun talk.
Shatter the Standards
We are dedicated to celebrating milestones, unearthing lesser-known musical gems, and promoting discussions around albums and new music that might not receive ample attention in mainstream conversations.
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New Music Drops: August 21, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of August 21st. We know it can be a task, so let’s help you cut through.
Album Review: ii by Denzel Curry & Kenneth Blume
Working on an SP-404 and a cheap microphone, Curry and Blume strip their follow-up to UNLOCKED down to nine aggressive, densely rapped songs.
Album Review: What Are the Odds by Jorja Smith
After three sessions with P2J in East London, Jorja Smith wrote a dozen furious dance tracks about people who lied to her.
Album Review: Hazel Eyes by Sam Smith
Produced with a tight circle of friends and partly recorded at Electric Lady, Smith’s fifth album splits between love songs that drag on sentiment and heartbreak songs that get down to the details.
Milestones: Mother by Cleo Sol
Cleo Sol sang about becoming a mother, but the album’s sharpest song is aimed at her own. The simplicity that risked making the whole thing disappear is the same thing that made it last.
Milestones: Blonde by Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean finessed Def Jam on a Friday. The record he dropped Saturday turned out to be one of the decade’s best.
Album Review: Gentlewoman by Cleo Sol
On her fifth album, the SAULT vocalist crosses a rotating cast of players to stripped-down acoustic soul with a full band and writes songs about the people who aren’t there anymore.
Milestones: Endless by Frank Ocean
A contract-fulfillment album that turned out to be the most unguarded music its creator ever released.
Wednesday Roundups #162: 25 New Projects You Should Listen to Now
Listen to new releases from The Womack Sisters, Paul Wall & Termanology, Channel Tres, Arin Ray, Genia, Kelly Finnigan, NicoleYvette, Breanna Whitaker, André Cymone, and more.
Album Review: The Price of Clarity by Ransom
The New Jersey veteran shades his usual technical menace with grief, marriage, and an admission he had been sitting on for years.
EP Review: Don’t Come to My House Sharing Your Location by Michael Christmas, Chris Crack & Girl Talk
Michael Christmas and Chris Crack recorded these six songs with Girl Talk in one Pittsburgh room. Every verse is crowded with punchlines and with the schools, blocks, and paydays the duo came off of.
Before Songs In the Key of Life (And the Songs Fall from the Sky)
Between 1971 and 1974, Stevie Wonder released albums in rapid succession, not all of them recognized at their true worth, but nevertheless essential works.
Album Review: The Don & Eye 3: The Trilogy by The Musalini & 9th Wonder
With 9th Wonder on board for the trilogy, The Musalini answers with grilled calamari, teal dresses, and Bronx Zoo alligators, writing that stays funny and particular across fifty-one minutes.
Album Review: Repeat Repeat Repeat by Paul Wall & Termanology
Paul Wall and Termanology’s third album together is a hustle record about debt, and both men rap better here when they’re saying who they owe than when they’re counting what they have.
Album Review: Bring Back Weed Spots by Cavalier
The phrase came off a hoodie release where Cavalier asked who legalization leaves behind, and over ahwlee’s production, he argues the case in bars instead of statements.
The Happiest Couple in Music Just Made a Breakup Song
Plus: Erykah Badu’s first new album in 11 years is finally happening, a Brooklyn producer taking the board for somebody else, a guest verse that disputes the count, and more.