Misplaced Pages

Fort Minor
Mike Shinoda performing in 2019
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative hip hop rap rock
Years active	2004–2006 2015–2017
Labels	Machine Shop Warner Bros.
Past members	Mike Shinoda
Website	fortminor.com

Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, The Rising Tied, was released in 2005. The album's fourth single "Where'd You Go" reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

History

Formation and The Rising Tied (2004–2006)

Mike Shinoda created Fort Minor in 2004. Shinoda uses the name Fort Minor for his collaborations with Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu) and Takbir Bashir (Tak), who themselves hail from 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 fourth single, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while second single, "Remember the Name", reached 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" during 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, an episode in the second season of TV show Numb3rs, and the film The Smurfs 2. The song also received attention on HBO's Hard Knocks, where NFL star J.J. Watt was filmed rapping the song during a workout.

Indefinite hiatus (2006–2015)

In November 2006, Fort Minor released a video for "Where'd You Go". Shinoda has stated he felt the video was a nice wrap-up for Fort Minor. Also in November, Shinoda stated that Fort Minor was currently on hiatus, because of his dedication to Linkin Park.

In 2006, Skylar Grey released an exclusive version of "Where'd You Go" to radio stations, made by herself. Shinoda does not appear on this version.

In the Billboard One-hit Wonders of the 2000s, 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 an LPU Chat in early 2012, Mike Shinoda said there is a possibility for a new Fort Minor album after Linkin Park's sixth studio album, which was planned for release 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 is not over, hinting at a second studio album.

"Welcome" single (2015) and second hiatus

On June 21, 2015, Shinoda released a new, non-album single titled "Welcome". Fort Minor also appeared as the musical guest on the TBS late-night talk show Conan on June 22, 2015. No new announcement has been made and the future of Fort Minor is currently unknown. However, ever since Chester Bennington's suicide on July 20, 2017, Shinoda has been performing and releasing songs as a solo act under his real name.

Status of Fort Minor (2020)

In September 2020, Shinoda addressed the status of Fort Minor on the podcast The Green Room with Neil Griffiths, saying "I'm Fort Minor the way Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails. Like, Nine Inch Nails is a group effort, but if Trent doesn't do it, it's not a thing."

He added that there is "no answer" about what's next for Fort Minor. "With Fort Minor I brought different people in to do different things and had some amazing features. I still believe that one of Black Thought's best verses of all time is on Right Now on the Fort Minor record, and it just happens to be on my record. That would have been one of my favourite verses he's ever done, whether or not it was for that record. For me, there's a bit of a high bar. I don't know why."

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

• Fort Minor Sampler Mixtape (2005)
• Fort Minor: We Major (2005)

EPs

• Sessions@AOL (2006)
• Fort Minor Militia EP (2006)
• Evolution of Mike Shinoda (2023)

Instrumental albums

• Instrumental Album: The Rising Tied (2005)

Singles

Fort Minor Militia exclusive tracks

Militia is the debut studio EP for Fort Minor's official fan club, known as the "Fort Minor Militia". Subscribers were given exclusive tracks for digital download that were never officially released, with the exception of "Kenji (Interview Version)" and "Believe Me (Club Remix)", which were later released to Linkin Park and Styles of Beyond's official websites respectively. These tracks are sometimes referred to as the Fort Minor Militia EP.

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

1. "Beck Leads Adult Alternative, Fort Minor & Disturbed Return to Charts". Billboard.
2. "Where'd You Go – Fort Minor (Chart History)". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
3. Montgomery, James (March 4, 2005). "Mike Shinoda's Solo Album May Divide Linkin Park Fans". MTV News. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
4. Moss, Corey (October 20, 2005). "Linkin Park MC Gets Director With Flair For Video With Flares". MTV News. Archived from the original on October 27, 2005. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
5. Loftus, Johnny (2006). "Fort Minor – Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
6. Moss, Corey (November 22, 2005). "Mike Shinoda: Storyteller". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
7. "Fort Minor > Charts & Awards". allmusic. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
8. Jeffries, David (November 22, 2005). "The Rising Tied > Overview". allmusic. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
9. Harris, Chris (April 26, 2006). "T.I., Pink, Shakira Can't Shake Rascal Flatts From Billboard #1". MTV News. Archived from the original on June 15, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
10. "Ringtone of the Year". MTV. September 2, 2006. Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
11. ^ "FORT MINOR: The Other Side Of Music | Visionary Artistry Magazine". May 8, 2013. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
12. "J.J. Watt Trolls Himself over Infamous 'Remember the Name' Rap from 'Hard Knocks'". February 16, 2022.
13. "Fort Minor Unofficial: Where'd Mike Go?". March 20, 2009. Archived from the original on March 20, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
14. "One-Hit Wonders of the 2000s". Billboard. Billboard. 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
15. "Mike Shinoda on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
16. "Fort Minor on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
17. "Conan Show Guests Schedule: June 22 – 25, 2015 @ TeamCoco.com". teamcoco.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
18. Griffiths, Neil (September 10, 2020). "The Green Room With Neil Griffiths – Mike Shinoda". thePodcasts.com.au. Handshake Media Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
19. Griffiths, Neil (September 13, 2020). "'There's A Bit Of A High Bar': Mike Shinoda Reveals Status Of Fort Minor". theMusic.com.au. Handshake Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
20. "Billboard 200 – Fort Minor". Billboard. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
21. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 106.
22. "Austrian Record Chart". austriancharts.at. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
23. "French Record Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
24. "German Record Chart". musicline.de. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
25. "Dutch Record Chart". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
26. "New Zealand Record Chart". charts.nz. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
27. "Swiss Record Chart". hitparade.ch. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
28. ^ "UK Record Chart". Zobbel. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
29. "American certifications – Fort Minor". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
30. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2005 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
31. "Recording Industry Association of Japan". Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
32. Evolution of Mike Shinoda - EP by Mike Shinoda, Fort Minor & LINKIN PARK, October 2, 2023, retrieved October 9, 2023
33. "Fort Minor > Awards". Allmusic. allmusic.com. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
34. "Discography Fort Minor". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
35. "Discographie Fort Minor". austriancharts.at (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
36. "Suomen virallinen lista – Artistit". ifpi.fi. Musiikkituottajat ry. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
37. "Discographie Fort Minor". lescharts.com (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
38. Peak chart positions for singles in Germany:
    • "Believe Me": "Chartverfolgung / Fort Minor / Single". musicline.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
    • "Where'd You Go": "Chartverfolgung / Fort Minor Feat.Brook, Holly & Matranga, Jonah / Single". musicline.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
39. "Discografie Fort Minor". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
40. "Discography Fort Minor". charts.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
41. "Discography Fort Minor". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
42. ^ "Gold & Platinum: Fort Minor". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
43. "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original (enter "Fort Minor" into the "Search BPI Awards" box) on September 24, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
44. "Fort Minor Feat. Styles Of Beyond "Remember the Name" | IFPI". ifpi.dk. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
45. "Certificazioni – FIMI". www.fimi.it (in Italian). Retrieved April 25, 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Fort Minor at AllMusic

• American hip-hop groups
• American rap rock groups
• Musical groups from Los Angeles
• Linkin Park
• Warner Records artists
• Musical groups established in 2004
• Alternative hip-hop groups
• MTV Video Music Award winners
• Mike Shinoda