Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda is no stranger to expressing his creativity. While most people may only know him as the MC and a musician in LP, it would be more accurate to call him a jack-of-all-trades: painter, philanthropist, musician, writer, producer. Linkin Park fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief because there is another project in the works which will be released soon, but for the time being, it’s all about Mike Shinoda, Fort Minor and The Rising Tied.
Impact210: Tell me a bit about your group, Fort Minor.
Mike: Before Linkin Park, I had studied piano for about
ten years, and learned guitar and some other instruments. But Hip-Hop
was the first type of music I was really drawn to, so I started using
those instruments to make tracks for myself and other people. Then Linkin
Park took off. About two years ago, I started feeling like I needed to
get back to the essence of that. I missed the fun of making straight up
Hip-Hop music. After I started making some tracks, Styles Of Beyond wanted
to get involved, and then Black Thought got on it, then Common, then John
Legend and then Jay-Z. All of a sudden, I had to take Fort Minor seriously!
Impact210: What influence has Jay-Z had on the album,
The Rising Tied?
Mike: When I make music, I tend to just let the ideas
flow and whatever comes out, comes out. That’s usually a good thing,
because it makes me versatile. But I was worried that the Fort Minor record
might lose some consistency if the songs were too all over the place.
I like a record to have an identity from beginning to end. That’s
why I asked Jay to be my executive producer. He helped me pick through
all the rough songs I was thinking about using and he told me which ones
to keep, which ones to fix up, and which ones to throw out.
Impact210: What do you want people to walk away with
from this album?
Mike: I think I’m particularly proud of the production.
I wrote almost every note, and played the instruments by hand—bass,
guitar, keyboard, percussion, whatever. I even went out and bought some
percussion instruments, even though I had them on my keyboard, just so
I could actually play them by hand. It’s more organic than most
Hip-Hop right now. If you listen to the majority of Hip-Hop right now,
it’s based heavily in keyboards and programmed music. In the late
‘80s and early ‘90s, albums like Public Enemy’s “Fear
of a Black Planet,” Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique”
and Cypress Hill’s first two albums were organic Hip-Hop to me.
Some parts are sampled a little off-beat, which makes it feel even more
organic and natural. People are so used to making albums on the computer
and being able to see all the sounds on the screen lined up perfectly,
that they’ve forgotten the “feel” a song can have if
it’s not perfect. Not only that, but there were song topics that
I wanted to address that I couldn’t do on a Linkin Park album. Songs
like “Kenji,” which is about Japanese Internment during WWII,
and “Cigarettes,” which is pretty much about my relationship
with Hip-Hop right now. I’d tell you more, but I don’t want
to ruin the songs!
Impact210: Tell me about your philanthropic work.
Mike: After the tsunami in Asia, we started an organization
called Music For Relief. That charity is now working toward relief for
the hurricane victims. You can see what we’re doing at www.musicforrelief.org.
I also started a scholarship at Art Center College in Pasadena, and support
the Japanese American National Museum, Densho, United Way, Make-A-Wish,
and Arthritis Foundation. When you’ve been given so much, it’s
a great feeling to give back in some ways.
Impact210: Even though pioneers such as Run DMC and
Public Enemy fused the Hip-Hop and rock worlds long ago, many are still
new to it and slow to embrace the crossing of genres. How do you feel
about that?
Mike: I like the mixing of styles, because I like the
mixing of people it creates. Regardless of what everyone else is doing,
I think there is a place for the mixing of styles as long as you’re
doing it with a genuine attraction, knowledge and respect for the styles
you are mixing.
Impact210: Have you ever had an art exhibit?
Mike: I’ve never done a show, but I think this
might be my year. I did a series of ten paintings for the Fort Minor album,
and they are featured all over the packaging. I would like to show them
sometime after the album comes out on November 22.
By Jo Basch, Impact 210 - November 3, 2005.
Original article can be viewed here.