With Linkin Park on Pause, Shinoda Plays with Hip Hop

(andPOP) - Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda talks to andPOP about new project

Mike Shinoda has known success for a long time with his bandmates in the eclectic band Linkin Park. Now he hopes the success will rub off on his hip hop side-project, Fort Minor.

With the release of their first album, "The Rising Tied," Shinoda?s nervous he won?t be able to live up to the expectations.

?I won?t pretend that I don?t hope (Fort Minor) does well," Shinoda tells andPOP. "Everyone wants their work to be accepted and enjoyed by fans. But this album is a challenging one, in the subjects and music, so I don?t want to set unrealistic expectations.?

Shinoda says the idea to come out with a hip hop album stems from his days as an MC.

?Before Linkin Park, I pretty much only made hip hop. I think Fort Minor started when I began to wonder what it would sound like to bring it full-circle, to get back to my roots, but use all the tools I have learned since then," he says.

For this album, released late last year, Shinoda admits he?s invested himself more emotionally because he?s doing it all on his own.

?The toughest part was being really hard on myself, knowing that I was responsible for all successes and failures of the record.?

Shinoda made an effort to produce a conscious hip hop album with songs that have a message or story to tell. Kenji, the track about his Japanese father?s internment experience during World War II, is one that was difficult but important for him to record.

?I had to do it, because I felt there isn?t very much awareness about the event, and especially with the racial tension and profiling still going on all over the world, I wanted to start the conversation.?

But whether or not the album is well received by fans, Shinoda says it was an experience he doesn?t regret.

?I wrote and recorded virtually every note on the album, wrote every singing part, and all my verses. I produced and mixed the album. It was a ton of work, but a very rewarding experience.?

The other members of Linkin Park, who recently had problems with their label, Warner Music, supported his decision to branch out.

?I told them up front, if they weren?t excited about the idea, I would have stopped right away. Obviously, since the album is now in stores, they were supportive!?

He says that problems with the label did affect the release of "The Rising Tied," but things eventually went back on track.

?My album was finished when the whole thing with Warner started, and it had to be put on hold. Putting it out was the beginning of the road to recovery.?

He was able to call on his friend Jay Z, who he worked with on "Collision Course," for some advice.

?It was good to have Jay on board as executive producer on the Fort Minor album. People ask if he wrote any lyrics or music, and the answer is no. But he did something that was very important?he helped me pick through my songs and decide which ones we should put on the album, which we should not, and which had potential, but needed work.?

Shinoda has faith in fans and thinks they?re ready to embrace a new kind of hip hop music, a genre that has so much potential to be more positive than negative.

?I simply think that people are ready for a hip hop album that has a story to tell, one that doesn?t involve guns, drugs, and strippers.?