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.
[2] Taku Takahashi and Verbal also started successful side-projects outside M-Flo, such as the Teriyaki Boyz and Global Astro Alliance collaborating with international producers and artists such as Kanye West and the Beastie Boys.
[7] The pair collaborated in 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 their return to Japan, the duo began performing in clubs and on television[7] 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 the compilation album The Intergalactic Collection ~ギャラコレ~, and sold about 1000 units.
[7] Following the release of "The Way We Were", Verbal and Taku invited Elizabeth Sakura Narita,[1] 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 a musician,[7] 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.
", 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 the songs "The Rhyme Brokers" and "Theme from "flo-jack" ".
The record featured a heavier electronic sound than the jazz-oriented Astromantic and included collaborations with Kahimi Karie and Akiko Wada.
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 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."
The shows marked the end of the "M-Flo loves..." period and featured many special guests, including BoA and Crystal Kay.
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.
Verbal heads Rhythm Zone imprint, espionage records, where he produces all-girl Hip hop outfit Heartsdales and collaborates with Mic Banditz.
Verbal and Taku have both acted as sometime producers and collaborators for artists who came to prominence largely because of their participation in the M-Flo Loves series, including Emi Hinouchi, Yoshika, Emyli, Ryohei Yamamoto and Lisa.
A version of the track "Tripod Baby" (from the album Beat Space Nine) was re-released for the Shadow the Hedgehog video game that came out in November 2005.