Artist: M-Flo

Album: “Planet Shining”

Label: Rhythm Zone/AVEX

Year: 2000

Intro

I wanted to give the entire album a listen considering they were one of the first Japanese acts that weren’t in the JPop genre that I listened to especially with my hip-hop background. I also was aware that M-Flo is one of the biggest acts in Japanese hip-hop which is a genre that still to this day is foreign to me. It got me to become curious about the genre.

Good

This album is littered with singles like “Hands”, “L.O.T. (Love or Truth)”, and “Been So Long”. Many of the songs are filled with quality productions, lyrics, and hooks from DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal, and Lisa. They seem to work well and can dabble into each other’s specialty with no problem. Lisa can rap and have a solid flow. Verbal can do hooks. Their chemistry is unmatched.

I really like the influences of many different genres into this album. It had some R&B, classic hip-hop, some of that grimy New York style hip-hop, and much more.

Bad

Out of the 17 official tracks on this album, 6 of them are interludes. I felt the interludes disrupted the rhythm of this album as it would have been better suited as just an 11 track album. I’m aware that there was a theme to it but these intros, outros, and interludes take time away from the official songs.

Overview

As this was their debut album, it was great to see where they started from especially as a trio. Although they are now just a duo, it’s great to see reminisce about the chemistry they had as three. This was during a period when they had more of that hip-hop vibe unlike today with more of that experimental sound which isn’t a bad thing.

Overall rating: 4/5

Reviewed by: Mr. Timtastic