Shabazz Palaces
“They Come in Gold”
Lese Majesty (out 07.29 on SubPop)
Now, this is exciting news. The Ishmael Butler-fronted hip-hop crew’s outstanding 2011 debut, Black Up, was one of the best albums of that year, and today we finally got details about its follow-up, Lese Majesty. Lead single, “They Come in Gold,” is classic Shabazz Palaces, a slow-burning, herky jerky arraignment topped off by Butler’s intelligent, flexible flow. “Original” is a word that is thrown around too much these days (probably, by me as well), but nobody sounds like these guys. It’s not really backpack, but it’s certainly not classic rap. Simply put, it’s totally genre-defying and impossible to put in a box. You can call it whatever you want, but I prefer to call it fresh, essential, and motherfucking brilliant.
