Fort Minor – The Rising Tied

From the instance this way talked about, it got shot down. A member from Linkin Park going out on trying his hand at hip-hop? That’s gonna sound horrible. That’s what everyone thought, including myself. So when I got the album in my mail box I shoved it aside, saying I’ll listen to it later but not really expecting much. But after finally ripping it out of its packaging, I regret taking so long to give it a shot.

Although I tend to go towards the more straight forward punk sound, I try and keep an open mind for some sounds and genres; always try to give them a chance. I used to love Linkin Park a few years ago. I really enjoy some rap and hip-hop like Eminem and some of the more underground stuff. I just hate the whole MTV hip hop crap about killing your hoes and shooting in the streets and crap like that. It’s bull shit. But every once in a while, there will be a new sound coming out, an intelligent, powerful, insightful rap artist – and that is what Mike Shinoda is with his new solo project Fort Minor.

And while 98% of the people on this site will shoe this off, insult it, and call it complete crap, there are a slim few who will give it a shot and like it. I mean, the fact that someone like Jonah Matrangacollaborates on two songs gives the album hope right away. Its full of great beats, amazing rhythms, even some rising string arrangements on a couple songs, and powerful, insightful lyrics. Kenji takes a look at the horrors the Japanese went through in WW2 while Get Me Gone attacks the media and how they try to put the project done before he even wrote a song. While there’s a few songs, like Petrified and In Stereo, make you want to press skip; others, like the phenomenal collaboration with female vocalist Holly Brook and Matranga on Where’d You Go makes you press repeat over and over again.

Most of you will shove it off saying “Linkin Park is crap, rap is crap, this will be complete crap” – but for the odd few who take a chance and listen to it will enjoy. I played it with a very closed mind, but Shinoda soon opened it wide to that’s there’s still good hip-hop out there other than the crap MTV and Much shove down our throats.