Lese Majesty
Avant-hip-hoppers Shabazz Palaces finally let it be known that they\'re the master duo of former Digable Planets member Butterfly (now known as Palaceer Lazaro) and instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire. After the critical success of their debut, *Black Up*, it’s likely the follow-up, *Lese Majesty*, will draw even more critical and commercial interest. The sounds themselves are low-key, letting the various instrumental patches respond to one another or enhance the atmospherics. Maraire excels at minimalism and texture, creating a complete track with the least amount of ingredients and thriving on providing seamless interludes. Lazaro provides a variety of vocals that shift from philosophical quips to word-associated ramblings where seriousness and clever thinking often work together. “Dawn in Luxor,” “Forerunner Foray,” and “They Come in Gold” form an intense opening trilogy, while “Motion Sickness,” “New Black Wave,” and “Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back” close the album with a similar focus.
'Lese Majesty' is the follow up album to 2011's 'Black Up' by Shabazz Palaces.
Shabazz Palaces’ Sub Pop debut Black Up breathed indelible soul into the Seattle duo’s formidable style, but the duo of Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire have since decamped to parts unknown. Lese Majesty boasts 18 songs grouped into seven suites, with a subtle science fiction theme; if that sounds proggy, get used to it.
Shabazz Palaces won’t ever make a single. The conceptual whole is sacred to MC and producer Ishmael Butler, who spit funky rhymes with trio Digable Planets back in the ’90s. Shabazz Palaces’ 2011’s Black Up peered inward, waxing poetic on black consciousness, while latest Lese Majesty projects outward, macro, mapping…
The Sub Pop duo cement their place as the most forward thinking act in hip hop.
If anyone is splintering hip-hop into a collage of strange pieces, shaping a genre into the complete opposite of a mirror’s image, it’s Shabazz Palaces.
Launched in a shroud of mystery, hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces were much more forthcoming while promoting the release of this sophomore effort, coming clean that former Digable Planets member Butterfly -- now Palaceer Lazaro -- and instrumentalist Tendai "Baba" Maraire were the men behind the music.
Palaceer Lazaro (formerly known as Ishmael 'Butterfly' Butler of Digable Planets) and Tendai Maraire broke through in 2011 with the mercurial, minimalist and abstract Black Up. With stripped digital beats and playful, worldly-wise lyrics, that album was a considerable achievement, setting out a template for Seattle hip-hop that was challenging, experimental and rugged without recourse to macho declarations of street toughness. On Lese Majesty, they push the envelope even further
A reverie, a DMT-fuelled wander through the subconscious of hip hop; whatever way you cut it, Lese Majesty is way out there.
Album review: Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty. "Sees them don their space suits and jump out of the airlock…"
<p>Their thrillingly radical second album sets out the Seattle duo's lofty ambitions, writes <strong>Killian Fox</strong></p>
<p><strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>: Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire's music seems totally without precedent, and even if sometimes it's just too weird to enjoy, more often it's genuinely thrilling</p>