Lese Majesty

Background

In an interview with Hypetrak in February 2013, Palaceer Lazaro announced he and Maraire were working on a second album. Of the record’s sound, he said “I don’t know. I doubt that it will sound much like it. It will probably sound… I don’t know. We’ve left that. That [last album] is kind of far behind us now. There will be some similarities I guess, because we are who we are. Other than that, it’s not gonna sound much like it at all.”

The album was first premiered at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center Laser Dome in April 2014.

Reception

Lese Majesty has received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 36 reviews.

Speaking on the live premiere of the album at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center Laser Dome, The Stranger newspaper wrote "Hearing the upcoming Shabazz Palaces album, Lese Majesty, in the Pacific Science Center's Laser Dome over the weekend, we concluded upon first listen that it is the future of hiphop. There was no need for drugs, or even the dazzling light show, since the music's fathoms-deep dubscapes and strategically predatory beats equaled the angular and smoky psychedelic visuals—each track already dazzled by a universe of deep-space stars, clouds of galactic gases, and the bright trails of wandering balls of ice. You will be proud that you live in Seattle when you hear this album."