Let’s get the obvious out of the way: In 2005, nobody expected the guy from Linkin Park to drop a backpack rap album. Not a nu-metal hybrid. Not a rock-rap curiosity. A straight-up, boom-bap, lyric-obsessed hip-hop record produced almost entirely by Mike Shinoda (and one Jay-Z track).
The Rising Tied isn’t a perfect album. The production is occasionally too clean, and a few tracks blend into each other. But as a one-off side project born from frustration with his own band’s limitations, it’s brilliant. Mike Shinoda proved he didn’t need distortion pedals or a co-lead singer to break your heart or blow your speakers. Fort Minor - The Rising Tied -Deluxe Version- -2005- Itunes
★★★★☆ (4/5) Essential for: fans of underground hip-hop, political storytelling, and anyone who ever burned a CD for their car in 2006. Let’s get the obvious out of the way:
"Where’d You Go" is the soft-rock radio hit that dates the album. On first listen, it feels like a Linkin Park ballad without the band. But listen again—it’s a soldier’s wife’s lament, and Shinoda’s raw, almost fragile delivery makes it painfully honest. It’s not cool. It’s just sad. And that vulnerability is what makes the album hold up. But as a one-off side project born from