Fort Minor is the hip hop side-project of Mike Shinoda, the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the alternative rock band Linkin Park. Though it was technically Shinoda’s solo project, the members of Styles of Beyond featured heavily on Fort Minor’s album The Rising Tied and appeared with Shinoda at photo shoots and live concerts.
They are known for the 2006 single, “Where’d You Go”, which features Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga, and also his single, “Remember the Name”. Thus far, Fort Minor has released one album, 2005’s The Rising Tied (as well as one mixtape, FMInvasion - We Major, which featured DJ Green Lantern), and also has a fan club similar to Linkin Park Underground, titled Fort Minor Militia.
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 first single, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; following was "Remember the Name" at No. 66. Another track, "Kenji" describes the experiences of a Japanese-American 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 No. 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.
The song "Remember the Name" was used in promotional TV trailers for the 2006 movie Gridiron Gang, as well as the trailer for the remake of the movie The Karate Kid (2010) and an episode in the second season of TV show Numb3rs.
In November 2006, Fort Minor released a video for "Remember the Name." Shinoda has stated he felt the video was a nice wrap-up for Fort Minor. Also in November, Shinoda stated that Fort Minor is currently 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 herself. Mike does not appear on this version.
In the Billboard One-hit Wonders of the 2000's, Fort Minor (along with Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga) were listed at No. 19, due to the success of "Where'd You Go" (since it was Fort Minor's only single that reached the top 25).
In LPU Chat earlier in 2012, Mike Shinoda said that there is a possibility for a new Fort Minor album after Linkin Park's sixth studio album, which he wished for it to be released in 2014. In October 2013, on the Nick Catchdubs remix of Linkin Park's "Skin to Bone", Ryu from Styles of Beyond stated that Fort Minor's mission isn't over, hinting a second studio album.
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