4 (Lead album)

4 is the fourth studio album by four-member Japanese hip-hop dance troupe Lead. It was released on their fourth anniversary as artists, giving the album its title. The album was one of their lower ranking albums on the Oricon Albums Charts, peaking at number 18 and remaining on the charts for two consecutive weeks.[1] The album consisted of two preceding singles, Virgin Blue and Summer Madness.[2][3]

For the album, the group delved into the reggae genre, along with their traditional hip-hop and R&B beats. The album contained eight new tracks, along with alternate versions of their songs "Summer Madness" and "One" from their Summer Madness single.[4] As with their previous albums, a CD+DVD combination was not included, the album carrying only a CD version. Music videos for their songs "Summer Madness" and "Virgin Blue" were later released on their compilation DVD Movies 3 (stylized as Lead MOVIES3) in August 2008.[5]

The song "Virgin Blue" was a cover of the same song, originally performed by six-member Japanese rock band SALLY in 1984.[6][7] The version was given an updated tempo for Lead, allowing the song to be more of dance anthem.[8] The lyrics to song were written by Sagara Yoshiaki with the modern arrangement performed by Kisaburo Suzuki.[9][10][11]

"Summer Madness" had been used as the ending theme to the television series We Have Muscle! (いただきマッスル! / Itadaki MASSURU) during the month of July.[12][13] The lyrics to the track were written by Nice Hashimoto with composition done by both Nice and Yasunori Tanaka.[14]

• Lead Official Site