Background information
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)
Hip Hop
Alternative Hip Hop
Years active 2004- Present
Label(s)
Machine Shop Recordings
Associated
acts Linkin Park
Styles of Beyond
Website: www.fortminor.com |
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Members
Mike Shinoda
(Main member)
Fort Minor is a hip hop ensemble and a side project by Mike Shinoda, one of
the lead singers for the band Linkin Park.
They feature Shinoda primarily alongside hip hop ensemble Styles of Beyond,
as well as a number of other notable guest artists. They are best known for
their 2006 single, "Where'd You Go", which features Holly Brook and Jonah
Matranga, and their song "Remember the Name". Thus far, Fort Minor has
released one album, 2005's The Rising Tied.
Contents
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History and musical style of Fort Minor
Fort Minor's Mike Shinoda's plan was to make music while enjoying time with
his friends, who include Ryu, Takbir, and many other leading musical
artists.
Fort Minor's first major album. The Rising Tied, features 16 tracks (with
three bonus tracks on a limited special edition version), many of which are
specific to the lives of Shinoda and his collaborators. "Remember the Name",
for example, describes the group's views on being rappers, while "Kenji"
describes the experiences of Shinoda's family during the Japanese American
internment of World War II. Other tracks, such as "Slip Out the Back", have
more general lyrical themes.
Fort Minor won Ringtone of the Year for "Where'd You Go" at the 2006 MTV
Video Music Awards.
In fall 2006, the single "Remember the Name" was used in two promotional TV
spots for NBC television's football drama Friday Night Lights. It has also
been used in a NUMB3RS episode: "The OG" in series 2. "Remember the Name" is
also used by TNT in its Emmy-award-winning Inside The NBA, during various
spots during its NBA coverage.
In November of 2006, Fort Minor released a new 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.
As of August 2006, Fort Minor's debut album has sold 335,000 copies.
Music videos
Four music videos have been released:
"Believe Me"
"Petrified" directed by Robert Hales - #8 TRL
"Remember The Name" directed by Kimo Proudfoot
"Where'd You Go" (explicit version), (edited version) directed by Philip
Andelman - #1 TRL (retired)
Trivia
The mixing samples to "Remember the Name" were released to ccMixter under a
Creative Commons license, mainly for the "Remember the Name" remix contest.
The samples include the acappellas (both radio edited and unedited) and the
music samples straight from recording sessions.
The winner of the "Remember The Name" remix contest were Marc Kaschke and
Norman Mauer, with their Remember the Name (Kaschke & Mauer Remix) track.
The song "Remember the Name" was one of the official theme songs for TNT's
coverage of the 2006 NBA Playoffs.
Mike Shinoda and Ryu Maginn (of Styles of Beyond) appear in Apathy's music
video for "The Winter"
The drum patterns of the song "The Hard Way" were used for one of the
theatrical previews of the 2007 movie Freedom Writers.
The orchestral background in the song "Believe Me" is the "Apple loop" named
"Orchestra Strings 08" found in GarageBand and also in Logic Pro.
The cello notes heard on "Remember The Name" were made by a group of
cellists playing individual notes in rapid succession, rather than one
cellist. Mike Shinoda stated that the string of notes was created on a
piano, and he hadn't realized the difficulty in playing the same string of
notes on a cello; thus, the cellists devised a way to play it by splitting
it up into the individual notes. |