Fort Minor

Fort Minor is a hip hop-based side-project of Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rapper, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and producer of the American rock band Linkin Park. Shinoda's debut solo album as Fort Minor, The Rising Tied, was released on November 22, 2005. The album's fourth single, "Where'd You Go", propelled Fort Minor to stardom, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

History

Formation and The Rising Tied (2004–06)

Fort Minor is a side project of Mike Shinoda. Shinoda uses the name Fort Minor for his collaborations with Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu) and Takbir Bashir (Tak), who themselves form the underground hip hop group Styles of Beyond.

Shinoda began recording songs for this side project following the release of Collision Course in November 2004.Fort Minor: We Major was a mixtape by Shinoda and DJ Green Lantern to promote his upcoming studio album. 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 on himself a requirement to play all the instruments and write all the lyrics to the album except for the strings, percussion, or choir parts. "Where'd You Go", its fourth single, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while second single, "Remember the Name", reached at No. 66. Another track, "Kenji" describes the experiences of a Japanese-American family during the Japanese American internment of World War II.

Fort Minor: We Major

Fort Minor: We Major, often known as We Major, is an official mixtape by American rapper Mike Shinoda's side-project Fort Minor, hosted by DJ Green Lantern (who also served as a mixer, producer and mixtape presenter). The mixtape was made as a warm-up/prequel to promote their first album The Rising Tied, and was first released on the internet as a free download. It was released on October 30, 2005, through the Warner Bros. and Machine Shop record labels. A hard-copy compact disc was also released to members of the Fort Minor Street Team, and some participants of contests at that time. A limited edition of the mixtape was released in 2006 with a different cover art.

The mixtape's title is based on a rap song of the same name by Kanye West featuring Nas and Really Doe from West's second studio album, Late Registration. It may also be in reference to the lyric "You minor, we major" from "Shook Ones Pt. 2" by Mobb Deep. Executive production for the limited edition of the mixtape was handled by Jay-Z, credited as Shawn Carter on the cover.