The album's title is a play on words referring to President Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to free more than 3.5 million enslaved people in the secessionist Confederate states.

Seth Colter Walls of Pitchfork stated "After two releases filled with high-concept fusion, some listeners might be hungry for solos that hang around longer and aren’t so beholden to the mood of the production.

The prominent use of electric guitar suggests a vintage rock-fusion approach, and soulful Fender Rhodes playing by Lawrence Fields often seems like it’s channeling some of Miles Davis’ late-1960s sound... he settles on a final texture, one both burnished and regal.

"[5] Matt Collar of Allmusic wrote "The Emancipation Procrastination... flips the paradigm, and fully embraces his own brand of trip-hop-inflected electronic jazz fusion.

"[2] Geraldine Wyckoff of OffBeat commented "The Emancipation Procrastination ends much as it began, with the warmth of jazz winding through refreshingly familiar yet excitingly new paths.