Lese Majesty (album)

For the offence or crime, see Lèse-majesté.

Lese Majesty is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Shabazz Palaces, released on July 29, 2014. The album features contributions from Thee Satisfaction’s Catherine Harris-White, Erik Blood and Thadillac. The album was produced by Shabazz Palaces and mixed by Blood at Protect and Exalt Labs in Seattle.^[2]

Lese Majesty
Studio album by Shabazz Palaces
Released	July 29, 2014
Recorded	2012–2014
Genre	Experimental hip hop conscious hip hop[1]
Length	44:53
Label	Sub Pop
Producer	Shabazz Palaces
Shabazz Palaces chronology
Live at KEXP (2012) Lese Majesty (2014) Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star (2017)

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."^[3]

The album was first premiered at Seattle's Pacific Science Center Laser Dome in April 2014.^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.9/10[5]
Metacritic	81/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
The A.V. Club	A−[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[9]
The Guardian	[10]
The Irish Times	[11]
NME	8/10[1]
Pitchfork	8.2/10[12]
Q	[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Spin	9/10[15]

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.^[6]

AllMusic critic David Jeffries wrote: "With Lazaro frequently falling back on his warm and welcoming Butterfly-era flow, the album balances the avant with the approachable in a manner few others would even attempt." Jeffries further stated: "It's a shame that such a vanguard effort is weakened by a few clever and jokey interludes that don't warrant a return, but that just leaves Shabazz Palaces room for a proper masterpiece as the brilliant Lese Majesty is so very close."^[7] Paula Mejia of The A.V. Club stated that the record "spans universes, sonically and otherwise," and is "Butler's most extreme refusal of the hip-hop status quo, boasting erratic instrumentals and subtle shit-talk toward haters subverting the canon."^[8] Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, Kyle Anderson thought that "the slightly-loosened-up attitude helps turn shambolic backdoor bangers such as "They Come in Gold" into intimate headphone masterpieces."^[9] The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis stated: "As it is, not every experiment on Lese Majesty works, but when they do, the results are spectacular. And even when they don't, the lovely sense that you're listening to an album genuinely unlike any other is pretty overwhelming."^[10]

The Irish Times's Jim Carroll called the record "a brave, trancey, psych flow of sounds that never tires or runs awry."^[11] NME critic Louis Pattison described the record as "one with the confidence to reject tired old models and build its own future logic," further stating the result to be "mysterious, spiritual, and funky as shit."^[1] Craig Jenkins of Pitchfork wrote: "The soul of Shabazz Palaces is pairing next-gen sounds with classic brass-tacks show-and-prove emceeing, and Lese Majesty tugs those extremes as far as they've ever been pulled; that it never shows signs of wear speaks to the strength of the bond."^[12] Writing for Rolling Stone, Will Hermes remarked that "Butler's dazzling feel for 21st-century psychedelia pushes this [record] well past nostalgia tripping – and while the verbal abstraction gets thick, there's serious pleasure in plumbing it."^[14] Spin's Anupa Mistry regarded the album as "more sonically relaxed and triumphant" than the group's past two records and stated: "In mirroring and transcending the schizoid, rootless form of digital society, it's an attempt to help people cope with the culture."^[15] Speaking on the live premiere of the album at Seattle's Pacific Science Center Laser Dome, The Stranger critic Mike Force wrote: "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."^[4]

Year-end lists

Lese Majesty on year-end lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Fact Magazine	Top 50 Albums of 2014	32	[16]
Flavorwire	Top 30 Albums of 2014	26	[17]
Gorilla vs. Bear	Top 35 Albums of 2014	1	[18]
The Guardian	Top 40 Albums of 2014	32	[19]
Passion of the Weiss	Top 50 Albums of 2014	14	[20]
Pitchfork	Top 50 Albums of 2014	35	[21]
Slant Magazine	Top 25 Albums of 2014	16	[22]
Sputnikmusic	Top 50 Albums of 2014	28	[23]
The Wire	Top 50 Albums of 2014	7	[24]

Track listing

Suite 1: The Phasing Shift

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dawn in Luxor"	3:56
2.	"Forerunner Foray"	3:48
3.	"They Come in Gold"	3:22

Suite 2: Touch & Agree

No.	Title	Length
4.	"Solemn Swears"	1:32
5.	"Harem Aria"	1:58
6.	"Noetic Noiromantics"	1:35

Suite 3

No.	Title	Length
7.	"The Ballad of Lt. Maj. Winnings"	1:42

Suite 4: Palace War Council Meeting

No.	Title	Length
8.	"Soundview"	0:40
9.	"Ishmael"	4:35
10.	"…down 155th in the MCM Snorkel"	2:12

Suite 5: Pleasure Milieu

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Divine of Form"	0:39
12.	"#CAKE"	4:02

Suite 6: Federal Bureau Boys

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Colluding Oligarchs"	2:09
14.	"Suspicion of a Shape"	1:41

Suite 7: High Climb to the Gallows

No.	Title	Length
15.	"MindGlitch Keytar TM Theme"	1:22
16.	"Motion Sickness"	3:49

Suite 8: Murkings on the Oxblood Starway

No.	Title	Length
17.	"New Black Wave"	3:43
18.	"Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back"	2:08

Sub Pop pre-order bonus 7"

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Palace Slide"	4:02
2.	"Palace Slide" (instrumental)	4:02

Personnel

Album personnel as adapted from liner notes:^[25]

• Shabazz Palaces – performer, producer
• Knife Knights – mixing
• Nep Sidhu – art direction
• Todd Westendorp – artwork

Charts

Chart performance for Lese Majesty

Chart (2014)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[26]	58
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[27]	7
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[28]	10

References

1. Pattison, Louis (July 25, 2014). "Shabazz Palaces – 'Lese Majesty'". NME. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
2. "Shabazz Palaces Share "They Come in Gold", Detail New Album Lese Majesty | News". Pitchfork. June 5, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
3. "A Conversation With…Shabazz Palaces". Hypetrak. February 25, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
4. "What's Crappening? by Here Comes the Sun, Do Do Do Do - Seattle Music - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper". The Stranger. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
5. "Lese Majesty by Shabazz Palaces reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
6. "Reviews for Lese Majesty by Shabazz Palaces". Metacritic. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
7. Jeffries, David. "Lese Majesty – Shabazz Palaces". AllMusic. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
8. Mejia, Paula (July 29, 2014). "Shabazz Palaces return with cosmic musings on hip-hop, identity, and black consciousness". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
9. Anderson, Kyle (August 1, 2014). "Albums: August 8, 2014". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
10. Petridis, Alexis (July 24, 2014). "Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty review – spectacular, way-out hip-hop". The Guardian. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
11. Carroll, Jim (July 25, 2014). "Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty". The Irish Times. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
12. Jenkins, Craig (July 28, 2014). "Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
13. "Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty". Q (338): 114. September 2014.
14. Hermes, Will (July 29, 2014). "Lese Majesty". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
15. Mistry, Anupa (July 30, 2014). "The Beautiful Game: Shabazz Palaces' Enthralling, Convoluted 'Lese Majesty'". Spin. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
16. "The 50 Best Albums of 2014". Fact Magazine. December 9, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
17. Mapes, Jillian (December 18, 2014). "The 30 Best Albums of 2014". Flavorwire. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
18. "Gorilla vs. Bear's Albums of 2014". Gorilla vs. Bear. December 2, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
19. "The Best Albums of 2014". The Guardian. November 26, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
20. "The Top 50 Albums of 2014". Passion of the Weiss. December 12, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
21. "The 50 Best Albums of 2014". Pitchfork. December 17, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
22. "The 25 Best Albums of 2014". Slant Magazine. December 11, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
23. Spencer, Trey (December 15, 2014). "Sputnikmusic's Top 50 Albums of 2014". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
24. "The Wire's Top 50 Albums of 2014". The Wire. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
25. Lese Majesty (Vinyl liner notes). Shabazz Palaces. Sub Pop. 2014.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
26. "Shabazz Palaces Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
27. "Shabazz Palaces Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
28. "Shabazz Palaces Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

External links

• Lese Majesty at Discogs (list of releases)