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43-624: Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists for each song over three albums, including the likes of Crystal Kay , Namie Amuro , Bonnie Pink , Koda Kumi and BoA . Their mainstream success and critical acclaim established them as the most iconic and influential hip-hop production team in Japan with success throughout Asia. Taku Takahashi and Verbal also started successful side-projects outside M-Flo, such as

86-448: A TV music competition. Takahashi's first project was to release a cover of Barbra Streisand 's " The Way We Were ", featuring vocals by Ceybil Jeffries and Verbal. One of the group's early songs was "Been So Long", which included Lisa as a featured vocalist, was highly praised by Masaji Asakawa from the DJ group GTS, which lead to the formation of M-Flo as a three-person group. "The Way We Were"

129-625: A Takahashi-produced album of children's songs sung in English, two songs co-written songs for the boyband NEWS , and an appearance on the drama Hito wa Mitame ga 100 Percent original soundtrack. In 2016 and 2017, Lisa started performing concerts alongside Takahashi and Verbal. As they all enjoyed the experience, they decided to reunite as a three-member band, and in March 2018 released "The Tripod EP 2". Lisa considers Cyndi Lauper , Madonna and Whitney Houston her musical influences. For her solo debut, Lisa

172-576: A child, Lisa was often bullied due to her mixed race heritage, as mixed race children were still uncommon in the 1970s and 80s in Japan. She attended two international schools in Tokyo: the Seisen International School and the American School in Japan . Lisa found solace in music in her school choir, which grew her interest in music and was often the only reason she would come to school. At

215-629: A compilation album of previous M-Flo loves songs and a new song titled "tell me tell me " , featuring Sik-K , eill, and Taichi Mukai . That was followed up in June with RUN AWAYS featuring chelmico . Both Verbal and Taku have headed up several side projects outside M-Flo. Verbal heads Rhythm Zone imprint, espionage records , where he produces all-girl Hip hop outfit Heartsdales and collaborates with Mic Banditz. Taku also heads his own Rhythm Zone imprint, Tachytelic Records . He released an album of remixes by other artists, Tachytelic Night: Welcomes You to

258-426: A heavier electronic sound than the jazz-oriented Astromantic and included collaborations with Kahimi Karie and Akiko Wada . The album's final track, "Tripod Baby", included a cameo by former m-flo vocalist Lisa. Beat Space Nine provided the group with their highest-selling album to date and their first Oricon #1. The album was supported by a live DVD and the remix album Dope Space Nine . The third album in

301-419: A musician, to collaborate with them on a second single, "Been So Long", released under the name Mediarite-Flow . The name was a re-spelling of 'meteorite flow' as Verbal hoped the group would have a big impact in media and "surprise the unsuspecting masses with some good music." It was shortened by the group's label to "M-Flo". The song was released on a limited-run vinyl with Rhythm Republic in 1998, attracting

344-632: A pair of collaborations with R&B singer Crystal Kay , Reeewind! and I Like It . The singles were released under the names "M-Flo Loves Crystal Kay" and "Crystal Kay Loves M-Flo" respectively and both charted in the top 10, providing Crystal Kay with her highest-selling single to date. Reeewind! began a string of collaborations that spanned four years and three albums. 2004's Astromantic featured collaborations with top names in Japanese pop, jazz , R&B and electronica including Chemistry , Double and Ryuichi Sakamoto and rose to number 2 on

387-415: A series of side-projects, m-flo released a collection of collaborations entitled Sotoshigoto: m-flo Turns It Out! and on March 5, 2003 a fan-selected best of album, The Intergalactic Collection ~ギャラコレ~ . The last track on the album hinted at the arrival of a new vocalist to replace Lisa, although the vocalist's identity was not revealed. Inspired by The Neptunes , On June 6, 2003, the group released

430-460: Is a Japanese singer, songwriter and producer. In 1998, she debuted as a member of the Japanese urban contemporary group M-Flo with Verbal and Taku Takahashi . In 2002, she left the band in order to pursue a solo project and released seven albums as a soloist. In December 2017, she rejoined as a member of M-Flo. Lisa was born in Tokyo on October 26, 1974, to a Colombian mother and Japanese father. As

473-599: The M-Flo Loves series, including Emi Hinouchi , Yoshika, Emyli, Ryohei Yamamoto and Lisa. Since Astromantic , these artists have been collectively referred to as the Global Astro Alliance . In addition to the earlier Sotoshigoto: M-Flo Turns It Out! , Verbal and Taku have released three compilations of collaborations between M-Flo, the Global Astro Alliance, and other artists. The first, M-Flo Inside ,

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516-509: The Teriyaki Boyz and Global Astro Alliance collaborating with international producers and artists such as Kanye West and the Beastie Boys . In 2008, the group announced a hiatus , stating that each member would be focusing on their respective side projects. In 2012 the group ended their hiatus with the release of Square One on March 14, 2012. On December 14, 2017, Lisa returned to

559-568: The luxury disco series was co-written with M-Flo member, and Lisa featured on M-Flo's songs "Love Comes and Goes" from Award Supernova: Loves Best (2008) and "Sound Boy Thriller" from MF10: 10th Anniversary Best (2009). Lisa was a featured vocalist for a song the Ravex project (a dance music project collaboration between Shinichi Osawa , Tomoyuki Tanaka and Takahashi), and Lisa and Takahashi worked together co-writing music: "Sweet Rishi Boy" (2009) for rock musician Anna Tsuchiya , and two songs from

602-399: The "M-Flo loves..." period "some vocalists that we thought were nice were hard to work with [because] that are very picky because they are used to controlling people." He singled out Akiko Wada as the most pleasantly surprising to work with. In 2009, the group celebrated their tenth anniversary with two shows at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, capacity 13,000. The shows marked the end of

645-513: The "M-Flo loves..." period and featured many special guests, including BoA and Crystal Kay . In September 2011, M-Flo performed at the Reebok event, Reethym of Lite. Here, they performed a new collaboration song with Reebok titled "RUN". The song features guest vocalist Minami from CREAM (Japanese group) . On March 14, 2012 the first m-flo album in five years Square One was released. The group has declined to comment on who will contribute vocals to

688-446: The 2010 anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ' s soundtrack. In 2012, Lisa released her studio album Family , which featured collaborations with Jamosa and Kotaro Oshio , however the release did not chart in the top 300 albums. After this album, Lisa's contract with her management Artimage expired. In 2016, Lisa returned to music, collaborating with Taku Takahashi on several projects: Avex Nico presents Kid's Songs Vol. 1 ,

731-528: The Far East , in 2003. He also works with Ravex , a collaboration with fellow Avex DJs Tomoyuki Tanaka and Shinichi Osawa established to mark Avex 's 20th anniversary. Their debut album, Trax , was released on April 24, 2009, following I Rave U and Believe in Love . Verbal and Taku have both acted as sometime producers and collaborators for artists who came to prominence largely because of their participation in

774-511: The M-Flo Loves series, Cosmicolor , was released on March 28, 2007. The final album in the series, it included collaborations with Kumi Koda , Snacky Chan, Namie Amuro and Bonnie Pink , as well as a second collaboration with Crystal Kay , intended as a symbolic close to the M-Flo Loves... project. The album achieved a #2 Oricon position and was supported by a live DVD. A two-disc remix album, spanning remixes both from Cosmicolor and songs from M-Flo's previous four albums, ElectriColor ,

817-570: The Oricon charts and to number 17 on the World Charts. The album was supported by a live DVD and remix album Astromantic Charm School . The album provided the group with its highest-selling single since "come again". The group's collaboration with Korean singer BoA , "the Love Bug", reached number 8 on Oricon charts. The group released their follow-up album Beat Space Nine in 2005. The record featured

860-460: The age of 18, Lisa debuted as a singer, with the single "Out of Cry" (1993) released through Tokuma Japan Communications . In 1994, Lisa collaborated with former Mute Beat keyboardist and producer Hiroyuki Asamoto's project Ram Jam World under the moniker Chica Colombiana, releasing an album of Latin and reggae inspired music in English, Spanish and Japanese. Later in 1994, Lisa changed labels for her solo career to Kitty Enterprises and released

903-716: The album Beat Space Nine ) was re-released for the Shadow the Hedgehog video game that came out in November 2005. A commercial for the game, featuring Taku and Verbal, was also aired. Taku and Verbal are big fans of the character Shadow . The remix can be found on the Japanese iTunes version (as a bonus track) of the remix album, Dope Space Nine . Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974) Elizabeth Sakura Narita ( 成田・エリザベス・サクラ , Narita Erizabesu Sakura , born 26 October 1974) , better known by her stage name Lisa (stylized as LISA ),

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946-400: The album. On March 13, 2013, following one year after Square One , m-flo released their seventh studio album, Neven . The album includes the two singles, "Tonite" and "Lover" released on December 5, 2012 and February 6, 2013, and "Transformerz" which was composed as an opening theme for the Japanese broadcast of the television series Transformers: Prime . In early 2018, Lisa returned to

989-463: The attention of the major Avex Trax sublabel Rhythm Zone . The group's first release with Rhythm Zone, "The Tripod E.P.", was a Double A-side single which included a re-release of "Been So Long" alongside new track "Flo Jack" and was released on July 7, 1999. The EP gained the group a #7 position on the Oricon charts, and "been so long" was licensed by Konami for inclusion in beatmania IIDX alongside

1032-416: The compilation album The Intergalactic Collection ~ギャラコレ~ , and sold about 1000 units. Following the release of "The Way We Were", Verbal and Taku invited Elizabeth Sakura Narita, who with a Colombian background is better known by her stage name of LISA , a friend while at St. Mary's who at the time was performing under the pseudonym "Unika" solo and in several underground projects trying to gain credit as

1075-458: The duo began performing in clubs and on television hoping to attract the attention of record companies. In 1998, Taku met Asakawa Masaji, the director of management company Artimage and DJ of the group GTS . Masaji invited Taku to produce a reworking of Barbra Streisand 's The Way We Were , with a rap by Verbal, originally intended as a GTS release. The song was released on vinyl in 1998 on Avex Trax 's Rhythm Republic indie imprint and later on

1118-581: The following year they released "Come Again", which achieved a #4 position in the Oricon charts and was their highest-selling single to date, selling 389,760 units, landing in the top 50 highest-selling singles in Japan for 2001. The group's second album, Expo Expo , was released on March 28, 2001, and reached #3 on the Oricon charts. Expo Expo was followed with a Japanese tour, released on CD and DVD in September 2001, and an album of remixes from Expo Expo , Expo Bouei Robot Gran Sonik , in November. Following

1161-530: The group N.M.D. , in which Takahashi was drummer and Verbal emceed, as well as throwing dance parties where they often performed together freestyle . Following his high school graduation, Verbal attended Boston College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston while Taku relocated to study in Los Angeles. They are both fluent in English and use it frequently in their songs. Following their return to Japan,

1204-484: The group and they announced that they will release new material in 2018. At the same time, M-Flo also released a digital compilation album called UNIVERSE to celebrate past years of the group, that contained all the 150 songs they released since their debut. Taku Takahashi ( 高橋 拓 , Takahashi Taku ) and Verbal (born as Ryu Young Gi [Korean: 류영기 / 유영기 , Hanja: 柳榮起 ]) first met as students at St. Mary's International School in Tokyo. The pair collaborated in

1247-556: The group released their major label debut single The Tripod E.P. (featuring "Been So Long" as one of the single's A-sides). The single was a success, reaching number nine on the Oricon singles chart. Between 1999 and 2001, the band saw great success with their albums Planet Shining (2000) and Expo Expo (2001) and singles such as "LOT (Love or Truth)" (1999) (the theme song of the Ai Kato -starring drama Best Friend ), "How You Like Me Now?" (2000) and "Come Again" (2001). Songs from

1290-416: The group, releasing "The Tripod E.P. 2", a sequel to their major debut "The Tripod E.P.". This marked their first release with Lisa in over 15 years. M-Flo performed the ending theme "against all gods" for the anime series Black Clover . Their third full-length studio album with Lisa and ninth overall album Kyo was released on November 6, 2019. The m-flo loves series made its return March 6, 2020 with

1333-435: The music she wrote, which Lisa found disheartening. In 1998, Lisa began collaborating with Taku Takahashi and Verbal , two former classmates of hers from high school. Takahashi and Verbal held dance parties, which Lisa used to attend and improvise vocals during Takahashi and Verbal's performances. In 1998, Takahashi began professionally working as a producer and a remixer, after being pushed towards making music by entering

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1376-416: The release of Gran Sonik , Lisa announced her departure from the group to pursue a solo career in early 2002. The split was not amicable following an argument at a TV show shoot, though Verbal has stated that it was exaggerated and did not want her to leave. He described the group as "Guns N' Roses minus Axl Rose" at that time. After a period of inactivity, during which Verbal and Taku engaged themselves in

1419-428: The sessions of these albums featured vocals by Lisa on most songs, including three songs featuring Lisa alone without rap from Verbal ("Come Back to Me" (1999), "One Sugar Dream" (2000) and "Yours Only," (2001)). In January 2002, Lisa released her solo debut single "Move On", which reached number seven on Oricon 's single charts, and is currently Lisa's most sold single. In April of the same year she announced that she

1462-582: The single "Sea of the Stars", which was used as the third opening theme song for the anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes . Lisa continued to work with Ram Jam World, including on their album Rough and Ready (1997) and extended play Sekai (1998). Between 1993 and 1998, Lisa changed management companies and music labels 10 times, and found that the companies were more interested in providing her songs written by veteran songwriters than showing any interest in

1505-474: The song "Tripod Baby". Lisa agreed to sing on the album due to a gap in her schedule, and recorded the song together with Takahashi and Verbal in June 2005, two months before the album's release. For the song, Verbal stated that they had wanted to recapture the "groove" of working together as a three-person band. In 2006, Lisa released an R&B concept album God Sista (2006), as well as her third original album Elizabeth (2006). Neither release charted in

1548-405: The songs "L.O.T. (Love Or Truth)", "Mirrorball Satellite 2012", "The Theme from Flo Jack", "Been so Long", and "The Rhyme Brokers". Another music related video game, Dance Dance Revolution , featured the songs "The Theme from Flo Jack", "Been so Long", and "The Rhyme Brokers". Another song "Come Again" also appears on Reflec Beat , Jubeat , and Maimai . A version of the track "Tripod Baby" (from

1591-579: The songs "The Rhyme Brokers" and "Theme from "flo-jack" ". A further four singles were released prior to the release of the group's first full-length album, Planet Shining , on February 23, 2000. The album reached #6 in the Oricon charts. Following the release of the Planet Shining remix album The Replacement Percussionists in August 2000, the group released the first single from their second album, "How You Like Me Now?", on September 1, 2000. In January of

1634-476: The top 40 in Japan. In 2007, Lisa's first greatest hits album Lisabest: Mission on Earth 9307 reached number 28 - her first top 40 release since 2004. Between 2008 and 2009, Lisa released the luxury disco series: two extended plays and one studio album of primarily dance music, culminating in her fourth original album Disco Volante . During this period, Lisa collaborated with the members of M-Flo often: "Bad Men!" (2008) and "Falling for You..." (2009) from

1677-473: Was also featured on Lisa's single " Switch ", which was the leading single from Lisa's second album Gratitude (2004). M-Flo's albums subsequent to Lisa's departure were inspired by American hip-hop group The Neptunes ' method of collaborating with vocalists, while continuing to release music under their own name. Even after Lisa left the group, the trio remained friends, and in 2005 for the group's album Beat Space Nine , Lisa returned to work with M-Flo on

1720-579: Was leaving M-Flo to focus on herself as an artist and as a singer-songwriter, deciding to do this at the peak of M-Flo's popularity. In late May, Lisa released her first single away from M-Flo, " Babylon no Kiseki ", a rock collaboration with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra . In April 2003, Lisa released her debut album Juicy Music , which reached number five on Oricon's albums chart. Between 2003 and 2004, Lisa wrote three songs for R&B singer Koda Kumi 's albums Grow into One (2003) and Feel My Mind (2004). Koda, alongside pop/rap group Heartsdales ,

1763-481: Was released as an independent single and sold out almost immediately. Because of the strong response to the single, they asked Lisa if she wanted to join their project as a full-time member, "Been So Long" was released as an independent single in December 1998. After promotion though radio stations such as J-Wave , the single was even more successful, which lead to the band signing a contract with Avex Trax , and in 1999

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1806-440: Was released in 2004 shortly before the first album in the series. The second, M-Flo Inside: Works Best II , was released on July 26, 2006. The third, M-Flo Inside: Works Best III , was released on March 19, 2009. M-Flo has contributed to the video games industry by both providing songs for games, and by advertising for these games. For the first versions of the video game Beatmania IIDX , M-Flo has contributed short versions of

1849-403: Was released on September 26, 2007. On February 13, 2008, the group released a collection of greatest hits from the M-Flo Loves... series, Award Supernova: Loves Best . The album debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts. It also featured a final new collaboration for the series, Love Comes and Goes, with Emi Hinouchi , Ryohei Yamamoto , Emyli , Yoshika , and Lisa. Verbal has said that during

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