Disco de Fort Minor: “Rising Tied [Edited] [Digipak]”

I've never been the type of person who has enjoyed categorizing artists and individuals by the colour of their skin (i.e. "white" & "black"), but in order for me to get my opinion straight on the next paragraph, I shall have to do so.

As many people know, "white" rappers have to work a lot harder to earn their stripes in the world of Hip-Hop for supposably self-explanatory reasons. On the high end of the musical food chain is Eminem, an exceptionally talented individual who, after years of hard work and personal struggle, has become an almost-revolutionary rapper, naturally combining humour with rage into devastatingly strong, occasionally smart music. Unfortunately, there are also gangsta-wannabes like Britney Spear's ex-husband, Kevin Federline, who, with the release of his absurdly pathetic debut album "Playing With Fire", brought down almost every existent trace of credibility in the "white Hip-Hop" community in one fell swoop.

Thankfully, Fort Minor -also known as Mike Shinoda, the rapper of Rock group Linkin' Park- is far more credible and skilled than K-Fed. Unlike most of today's rappers -"black" and "white" alike- Fort Minor is the type of lesser-appreciated rapper who opts for music that digs deeper than clubs, rims, misogyny, cash, etc. (though he admittedly does indulge in gangster-esque posturing on eerie lead single "Petrified" & the heavy-hitting club anthem "In Stereo"). His rhymes are intelligent and complex and his delivery is full of passion and honesty, reminiscent of Eminem & Kanye West but nowhere near as hilarious or blatantly hateful and boastful as either. Nonetheless, "The Rising Tied" is a remarkably solid album that allows Fort Minor to flex his abilities as a rapper, lyricist and producer (yes people, he produced and arranged the beats in their entirety to downright perfection).

While the album is heavy with guest appearances, Fort Minor remains to be the album's main focus - singers Holly Brook & Jonah Matranga harmonize well on the chorus of "Where'd You Go", a darkly intimate, emotional portrayal of an individual suffering from loneliness without his or her significant other; John Legend lends his soulful vocals to the piano-driven anti-haters anthem "High Road" ; The Root's Black Thought & Hip-Hop group Styles Of Beyond demonstrate their abilities as complex, vivid storytellers alongside Fort Minor on the depressing "Right Now ; Styles Of Beyond, along with singers Kenna & Jonah Matranga, contribute to the haunting Hip-Hop/Rock gem "Red To Black" ; hook singer Bobo & Styles Of Beyond (again) lend their services to "Believe Me" ; Hip-Hop intellectualist Common & Styles Of Beyond (again!) appear on "Back Home", an introspective slice of old-school-inflected Hip-Hop that highlights the negatives and struggles of their hometowns ; Styles Of Beyond (again!!) make contributions to the musically raw "Feel Like Home" & the violin-driven "Remember The Name" ; "Slip Out The Back", another eerie slice of lyrical genius, features a barely-relevant Mr. Hahn ; and Celph Titled inhabits the entirety of the short-lived "The Battle" with a freestyle diss.

Thankfully, Fort Minor also knows how to shine without help from a talented guest list. As a matter of fact, some of the album's strongest and most personal moments come when he remains unassisted - "Cigarettes", backed up by a dark, minimalist beat and ethereal background choir vocals in the chorus, is Mike Shinoda's brutally honest ode to the superficiality, materialism and misogyny of Hip-Hop music; the sinisterly dark album standout "Kenji" focuses on the Japanese-American internees of World War II (thanks AMG for making it easier for me to phrase out); and the introspective "Get Me Gone" shows Fort Minor talking about his struggles in the music industry prior to his success with Linkin Park.

Without a doubt, "The Rising Tied" was one of the finest Hip-Hop albums to be released in 2005. Some people may scoff at the heavy guest appearances (some of whom are signed artists of Fort Minor's Machine Shop Records) or the lack of lyrical depth in "Petrified" & "In Studio", but this album is essentially brilliant and a positive step forward when it comes to the progression of "white Hip-Hop". Hell, even the album art is cool and original, which is just one of many positive reasons to buy or download this album. 5 STARS!

N.B.:

Since I bought the special edition version of this album, there's a chance that the lyrics to most (if not all) of the album's songs might not be within the booklet.

5 Favourite Tracks (In No Order):

"Cigarettes"

"Kenji"

"Right Now (feat. Black Thought & Styles Of Beyond)"

"Where'd You Go (feat. Holly Brook & Jonah Matranga)"

"Back Home (feat. Common & Styles Of Beyond)"

After the success of his band, Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda decided to finally release his long dreamed about rap album. Known as Fort Minor, Shinoda took a long time creating the tracks and used real live instruments in almost if not all of them.

1. Introduction - Not Rating

2. Remember the Name (Featuring Styles of Beyond) - 4.5/5

3. Right Now (Featuring Black Thought (of the Roots) & Styles of Beyond) - 4.5/5

4. Petrified - 3.5/5

5. Feel Like Home (Featuring Styles of Beyond) - 4.5/5

6. Where'd You Go (Featuring Holly Brook & Jonah Matranga) - 5/5

7. In Stereo - 4.5/5

8. Back Home (Featuring Common & Styles of Beyond) - 3/5

9. Cigarettes - 4/5

10. Believe Me (Featuring BoBo & Styles of Beyond) - 5/5

11. Get Me Gone - 1 Short Verse - No Rating

12. High Road (Featuring John Legend) - 5/5

13. Kenji - 5/5

14. Red to Black (Featuring Kenna, Jonah Matranga & Styles of Beyond) - 4.5/5

15. The Battle (Interlude)(Featuring Celph Titled) - No Rating

16. Slip Out the Back (Featuring Mr. Hahn) - 4.5/5

Overall:

57.5/65

4.5 Stars

This album is jam packed with certified bangers! There's only a couple weak tracks and the rest are near classic. The production was handled very well and hopefully Mike will release a follow-up somewhere down the line.

Points of interest to silly ppl:

1 - Not Eminem, Fort Minor

2 - Not Linkin Park, their emcee(+more) Mike

3 - Not Rap, HIP-HOP

First off! Nothing like Mr.Shady in, its not made for a pop audience, and its hip-hop and not just rap! The only song that sounds like Em is Remember The Name (beats & structure only)!

Two; Its not like Mike.S has taken out the rapping verses out of 'In The End' and played it over a fat beat! He has created some powerful and emotional songs with 'Kenji' and 'Where'd You Go?'.

And like the Eminem thing, its hip-hop and not rap because Mike has actually made some effort to create this album. Beats in the making from 5 years ago, he created the art behind the album, he involves a touring band, the instrumental side of things isn't just played off his Korg! That's HIP-HOP! In Rap you have an MC that raps to the sounds of a DJ, like EM; and the DJ is refered to as the rappers DJ, like EM's Green Lantern!

Summary:

'Kenji' is the best song ever written, better than the grammy award-winning 'Jesus Walks' by Ye.

'In Stereo' is the fatest beat played in my ride!

'High Road', coolest Jazzy song ever.

'Where'd You Go' is great to hear touring from a different perspective.

'The Battle' GREATEST TRANSITION BETWEEN SONGS and GREATEST ALBUM "FILLER"!

'Right Now' is geniously awesome, lyrically!

'Cigarettes' is rap in a nutshell!

'Slip Out The Back' has a great electronic sound and feel, as it is cut up by ProTools and the wheels of steel!

'Petrified', 'RTN' and 'Believe Me' are great "pop" songs for a non-household (underground) album.

This album was DEFINENTLY worth my AU$29.95!!!

And I am not in the wrong to say "ALBUM OF THE YEAR" and cannot wait to see how it fairs up for the 49th Grammys for "(HIP-HOP) ALBUM OF 2006"

BUY IT!!!

mattytay

Being a huge Linkin Park fan, I sometimes wondered if Mike Shinoda would ever release a solo cd of his own. I was very pleased to find out that he was indeed making one and I purchased it as soon as it came out. I think that Shinoda has one of the best rapping voices today. He speaks so clearly and fluently, and his lyrics are great also. If you are a fan of his from Linkin Park, you should definitely buy this! It has a good variety of tracks, some with fast catchy rhythms and some that are slower. The best tracks are probably "Remember the Name" and "Petrified". He also has two guys in some tracks that work well with the music.

Recently, it seems to me, hip-hop has been descending downwards. People like Kanye West, Common, and Talib Kwali slightly uphold the genre's strength but otherwise it seems almost a waste of time for me lately. Oddly enough, I didn't like collision course. For some it was a nice combination, for me it was like adding chocolate to cheese, I really like 'em both but together they're crappy. Perhaps because it was all remixes.

Mr. Shinoda's little side-project here has some-what made up for that, as I believe it is good quality music. While the rhymes, metaphors, etc could have been better I like Mike Shinoda's voice and how it flows. The beats are fantastic in most tracks, though I was suprised that Mr. Hahn's track was nothing special.

If you go into this thinking "Linkin Park?" you will be quite dissapointed. If you go into this hating rap, the same. But if you like Linkin Park, give it a shot, you might be suprised. As far as hip-hop goes, it is at least decent.