Fort Minor is the hip-hop side-project of Mike Shinoda, the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the alternative rock band Linkin Park. Shinoda's first solo album as Fort Minor, The Rising Tied, was released in 2005 with the singles "Where'd You Go" featuring Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga and "Remember the Name" featuring Styles of Beyond. Fort Minor Militia is the official fan club of the project, similar to Linkin Park Underground.
History[]
Shinoda had been studying piano since 1993. Soon after graduating from high school in the mid-1990s, Shinoda joined drummer Rob Bourdon, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and DJ Joe Hahn to form the band Xero, renamed Hybrid Theory in 1998. The next year, singer Chester Bennington joined the musicians, who finally renamed the group Linkin Park. The band was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1999 and released its debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. In Linkin Park, Shinoda provided rap vocals in its hit singles "In the End", "Crawling", and "Somewhere I Belong", and keyboards for numerous other tracks. He also designed cover artwork for the band's albums. Hybrid Theory was nominated for three Grammy Awards and sold over 24 million copies.
Around late 2004, Shinoda began recording his side project. The Rising Tied, the debut album of Fort Minor, was released in November 2005. Robert Hales directed its first video "Petrified", which was released the previous month. Jay-Z, who had previously collaborated with Linkin Park on the 2004 album Collision Course, was the executive producer for The Rising Tied. Shinoda told Corey Moss of MTV News that he imposed himself with a requirement to play all instruments and write all lyrics to his album except for strings, percussion, or choir parts. "Where'd You Go", its first single, peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; following was "Remember the Name" at #66. Another track, "Kenji" describes the experiences of Shinoda's family during the Japanese American internment of World War II.
Due to the success of "Where'd You Go", on the week of April 26, 2006, sales of The Rising Tied increased by 45 percent, and the album chart position went up 89 positions to #104 on the Billboard 200."Where'd You Go" was awarded Ringtone of the Year at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. In mid August 2006 Fort Minor performed at the Summer Sonic 2006 alongside Linkin Park.
The third track on the album, "Right Now", is featured in the trailer of The Family That Preys by Tyler Perry.
In November 2006, Fort Minor released a video for "Remember the Name", which features a montage of various amazing feats. Shinoda has stated he felt the video was a nice wrap-up for Fort Minor. Also in November, Shinoda stated that Fort Minor is on hiatus, because of his dedication to Linkin Park.
In 2006, Holly Brook released an exclusive version of "Where'd You Go" to radio stations, made completely by Holly Brook. Mike does not appear on this version, which can be heard by request on various American radio stations.
