Release Date: November 16, 2016
Track Listing
- -old-
- Golden
- Premium
- Oshiete
- Do It Now (Hey! Hey! Hey!)
- Summer Foundation
- Mitsuboshi
- Lyricist
- Magic Hour
- Koi wa Zuwazu
- -too old-
- Last Song
- RUN AND RUN
Review
Much has changed in the world of lyrical school. Hina left the group to study abroad and pursue a career related to foreign languages. Their ranks went up again after former Rhymeberry member MC Hime (Mochida Himeka) became part of the collective in December 2016.
Lastly, they signed to a major label moving from T-Palette to King Records, releasing two singles Summer Foundation and RUN AND RUN, before unleashing this album. So how does their first album after their move to King Records fare?
Well, it does start where SPOT left off, with the group spitting rhymes over tried and true hip-hop beats. GOLDEN sounds like it takes heavy inspiration from Jurassic 5’s 2002 song What’s Golden. On the other hand, Premium combines bits of 80’s old school with touches of 8-bit sounds.
And that is where that type of sound ends. You won’t be finding anything else close to what I described above on this album after. Sorry to the heads looking for this group to go hard. However, should you be looking for something equally satisfying as the opening 2 songs go directly to Lyricist, Magic Hour and Koi wa Zuwazu. Those are the only pure dance-oriented songs in guidebook and resemble something close to SOUL’d OUT’s high-tempo pop/rap songs.
They are great if you like that particular type of genre crossover. Otherwise, you can also go to the last two songs on the album (Last Song and RUN AND RUN) to get something closer to the Hip-Hop feel represented by the other songs in guidebook.
Much like their last album (and the previous material we have reviewed), the only weak spot in lyrical school’s armour is when they try to sing. They still sound bad when channelling their inner diva and dropping those hooks.
Except for the 3 dance songs mentioned above, they are pretty hit-and-miss. Granted, they are not as bad as in the past, but singing is still not their strongest suit.
Despite that one minor quibble I had with the album, I still found that the beats were great, and the group’s rhyme skills were still on point. guidebook is a rather solid major label debut and is worth investing your time in if you are looking for some respectable idol-flavoured Hip-Hop.
