Some think hip-hop has long been stuck in a creative rut, but Seattle group Shabazz Palaces is shaking up the rap game with its futuristic sound.

Shabazz Palaces is often called a collective, but the group is led by two core members. The most obvious presence is rapper Ishmael Butler, also known as “Palaceer Lazaro,” formerly of jazz rap group Digable Planets. The other core member is multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire, whose father Dumisani Maraire is an Mbira master.

On “Lese Majesty,” the group’s second album, they take their futurist hip-hop in new directions. Songs like “Ishmael” include reverb-drenched vocals and heavy bass lines. What makes the song stand out is the blending of unusual instruments and almost stereotypical bass kicks. The song opens with auto-tuned singing, which could have sounded cheesy yet works nicely. Many of the songs aren’t drastically different from the group’s first album “Black Up,” but they’re a lot more refined.

Another way in which “Lese Majesty” outshines its predecessor is the order and flow of its songs. “Black Up” might have been the first full-length of Shabazz Palaces’ specific brand of rap, but with a few exceptions the album felt like a collection of really great songs in no real order. In “Lese Majesty” the band arranged the 18 songs into seven different suites. This simple gesture makes all of the songs feel much more important, like there is a clear narrative going on within the album.

One thing Shabazz Palaces does outstandingly well is break down the standard conventions of hip-hop music. Where most hip-hop is dependent on a strict formula of 16-bar verses and eight-bar hooks, the Seattle collective tends to throw the rule book out the window. Verses transform into sprawling stories, and there isn’t much of anything resembling a hook.

The music feels like a menagerie of a million different sounds, but it doesn’t come across as forced. “Lese Majesty” is a psychedelic journey through the mind of Shabazz Palaces. Synthesizers gurgle as traditional African instruments propel you forward. Vocals are often masked by some sort of reverb or other effect. Butler sometimes raps smoothly with much bravado, but at other times his voice is a high-pitched grate over a revolutionary soundscape.

Shabazz Palaces won over many critics with a series of mysterious EPs and its debut album, and “Lese Majesty” is bound to do the same. The French term “lèse-majesté” means to offend a dignitary, and with this album Shabazz Palaces has slapped hip-hop in the face with a bit of artistry that it deserves.