Review Summary: Infrequently it fails to captivate, but it's never uninteresting. What we have here is a solid, even wonderful CD from a man who nobody expected anything of, yet impressed us all anyway; Mike Shinoda.
I always enjoyed the rapping in Linkin Park, at least when I enjoyed Linkin Park. Deep down I'm interested in the more rhythm-based vocals that rapping can provide for a band, although I don't think it's enough to exclusively support a band (Rage Against the Machine). Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park's rapper, was and is far from the best you'll hear even on a rock release, but neither he nor Chester Bennington the singer could have really managed the vocal duties by themselves. The best Linkin Park songs featured Shinoda and Bennington goading each other through the tension-filled verses into the explosive power-chord choruses of their two earliest releases. Despite my enjoyment of both of them as vocalists (they can both grate on the nerves on occasion), I can't honestly say I was ever tempted to hear them expand any more as artists outside of Linkin Park. So when I heard that Mike Shinoda was putting together a rap project, I was mildly interested- but only mildly.
Surprisingly, the CD was good- even great. Mike Shinoda, like me and most of his fans, realizes that his voice isn't really enough to support a song all the way to its conclusion. On the few occasions that he tries, the results are very inconsistent. "Kenji" and the Shinoda-dominated "Where'd You Go" are some of the greatest, most touching rap songs I've ever heard, and "Slip Out the Back" and "Cigarettes" are haunting, bleak songs, but on songs like "Petrified" and "In Stereo" he falters. Perhaps this is due to the decidedly more stereotypical subject matter of these songs, namely how great Mike Shinoda and his music are. Of all the songs that deal with self-flattery, only "Remember the Name" succeeds, largely due to one of Shinoda's most charismatic raps, the help of Styles of Beyond's Tak and Ryu, and the unrealistically catchy violin sample. The album is at its best lyrically when it avoids talking about how good the people involved are (although "High Road" manages to defend Shinoda's career with Linkin Park and with Fort Minor capably without sacrificing the hook) and instead creates a compelling story.
Shinoda, although outshined both lyrically and vocally by Styles of Beyond and certainly unable to carry most of the songs by himself, is a good lyricist in his own right. He does an excellent job creating an atmosphere of loneliness, guardedness, and a world where people forgo meaningful contact with other people because it's all they can do just to get by. He says "even heroes know when to be scared" on the excellent "Slip Out The Back," but you get the feeling that there are no heroes. "Feel Like Home" and "Right Now" portray the difficult lives of the poor working class, but suburbia's sense of discontent and frustration is given equal light on "Back Home" and "Where'd You Go." Most of all, Shinoda and his friends seem like they have something that they want to say, but the album's lyrics pose more questions about the way our society has come to work than answers as to how to fix it. Instead of the immature complaints of Linkin Park, what we get here is a collage woven from the stories of the disillusioned, the disenfranchised, and the disbelieving. The lyrics also do a good job of approaching themes unexplored in rap music. "White kid languishing in suburbia" gets a shout-out on the unsurprisingly Linkin Park-esque "Red to Black," but the real standout is "Kenji," a heartbreaking song about the Japanese imprisonment in internment camps post-Pearl Harbor. A must-download for anybody, even if you usually hate rap.
As mentioned before, Shinoda's voice can't carry the majority of the songs he takes on. Hell, sometimes it can't even take on the portion of the vocal duties that were assigned to him ("Back Home.") Fortunately, he has a wide crew of musicians and vocalists to assist him. To Mike's credit, he refrains from using his obvious influence from Linkin Park to recruit heavyweights, instead selecting largely unknowns or less famous artists- apart from an unnecessary intro by Jay-Z and a spot from John Legend, we see little Timbaland-esque name-dropping on this album. His most frequent companions are the members of Styles of Beyond, who to tell the truth are far more talented both at rapping and lyrics than he is, but they usually don't steal the show too much. Only when they are forced into direct comparison with him, like on "Remember the Name" where the main focus is how great each individual member is, do they outshine him to any serious degree. On songs like "Red to Black" they give him the spotlight, letting him test the waters, the mentor giving more room to the student. The other guests act much more in tandem with him, working more separately from him since many of them are singers. The distinct polarity between he and Holly Brook on "Where'd You Go" serves to only further exemplify the gap between the touring rock star and the family that got left by the wayside.
I can't really say much about the beats/samples, since they all play their part capably and you can't judge them based on technical proficiency. However, I did hear that Fort Minor used live instruments for their tour, which really doesn't change my opinion since nothing here would be especially hard to learn on the drums or the guitar. The funky synth on "Back Home" gets irritating occasionally, and the sampled horse whinny on "Petrified" is too gimmicky to be really good, but aside from these minor nitpicks, the instrumental section is far superior to most rap bands. The music is never repetitive from song to song and it's usually fairly easy to identify a song by the melody, something most modern hip hop and rap can't really say. I did notice that pianos were used very often, which wasn't bad but it's just an observation. Another cool thing was the main string sample on "Believe Me," which is a sample you can use on the music-making program GarageBand.
It may seem like the album is getting a low rating at this point in comparison to all the praise I've given it. Well, there are a few downsides. "Get Me Gone" is a surly, defensive skit that adds nothing to "High Road," a song with the exact theme that immediately follows and is far better. "The Battle," which has no input from either Shinoda or Fort Minor, is totally inexplicable. Why not just do a cover of it if he liked it so much? "Petrified" and "Back Home" fail to leave much of an impression, and there is also the problem of Mike Shinoda's nondescript vocals and overly simplistic lyrics (even if they usually work to make a good song). Also, rap isn't really my thing, so I can't give it full marks.
But even my personal prejudice can't keep me from enjoying what is, at its heart, an extremely well-made and enjoyable CD that just happens to be rap music. Fort Minor's The Rising Tied is a fun, touching, at times amazing record that shows a side to Mike Shinoda that was insufficiently explored in Linkin Park. I wish success for him in both Fort Minor, if he continues with that, and even Linkin Park now that they've given up the nu-metal ghost. Mike Shinoda is a skiled artist, and if this album is any indication, he will have a long career. Ths CD is flat-out good. Perhaps inconsistent, perhaps a little bland on occasion, but "Slip Out The Back" and "Kenji" could redeem even St. Anger. Point is, you'll like this, and I recommend you give it a listen. You won't be disappointed.
