Mike Shinoda

Michael Kenji "Mike" Shinoda (born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, graphic designer, manager and film composer. He co-founded Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's rhythm guitarist, songwriter, keyboardist, and co-vocalist. Shinoda later created a hip hop-driven side project, Fort Minor, in 2004. He served as a producer for tracks and albums by Lupe Fiasco, Styles of Beyond, and The X-Ecutioners.

Shinoda is also the co-founder of Machine Shop Recordings, a California-based record label. Outside of music, Shinoda is an artist and graphic designer. He has painted several pieces of artwork, some of which have been featured in the Japanese American National Museum.

Early life

Shinoda was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills. His father is Japanese and a descendant of the Kumaichiro Shinoda floral company family. He has a younger brother, Jason. He was raised as a liberal Protestant. Shinoda's mother encouraged him to take classical piano lessons when he was six. By 13, he expressed the desire to move toward playing jazz, blues, and even hip-hop. He later added the guitar and rap-style vocals to his repertoire during his middle school and high school years.

Shinoda attended Agoura High School with Linkin Park bandmates Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon. The three formed the band Xero, and began to make a more serious attempt to pursue a career in the music industry. After graduating high school, Shinoda enrolled in the Art Center College of Design of Pasadena to study graphic design and illustration. He attended classes with DJ and turntablist Joseph Hahn. While studying at the Art Center College of Design, he experienced a form of identity crisis. Years later, in an interview he said:

Shinoda graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and obtained a job as a graphic designer.

Linkin Park

Mike Shinoda performing with Linkin Park at Rock im Park, 2014.

Shinoda founded Linkin Park with Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson in 1996. They eventually brought in turntablist Joe Hahn, bassist Dave Farrell, and vocalist Mark Wakefield. The earliest incarnation of the band was called Xero, and originally produced and recorded music in Shinoda's bedroom. When the band was unable to find a record deal, Wakefield and Farrell left the band to pursue other musical interests. The band later recruited Chester Bennington and successfully landed a record deal with Warner Bros Records. Linkin Park's first studio album, Hybrid Theory went on to become a breakthrough success and helped the band attain international success.

Shinoda is closely involved in the technical aspects of the band's recordings, and over the subsequent releases that role continued to expand. Shinoda, with guitarist Brad Delson, engineered and produced the band's Hybrid Theory EP, and performed similar roles in the recording of Hybrid Theory. He has contributed to the instrumental and lyrical composition on most Linkin Park's songs. Though Bennington primarily serves as Linkin Park's lead vocalist, he occasionally shares the role with Shinoda. Bennington has a higher pitched and emotional style of singing, whereas Shinoda has a baritone hip-hop style delivery. Shinoda organized and oversaw the band's first remix album Reanimation in 2002, contributing his own production of remixes that he made in his home studio for "Crawling" and "Pushing Me Away". Shinoda collaborated with graffiti artist DELTA, graphic designer Frank Maddocks, and bandmate Joe Hahn to prepare Reanimation's artwork. Mike also collaborated with The Flem, Delta, James R. Minchin III, Nick Spanos, and Joe Hahn for the artwork of the band's second studio album Meteora. Shinoda also produced the album, with his bandmates and Don Gilmore which was his first production experience. By the release of the Jay-Z and Linkin Park collaborative mashup EP, entitled Collision Course in 2004, Shinoda's involvement in the creation of the albums continued to grow. He produced and mixed the album, which won a Grammy Award for "best rap / song collaboration" in 2006.

The band released their next album, Minutes to Midnight, on May 14, 2007. On this album, Shinoda shared a production credit with longtime producer Rick Rubin. This album was also the first time that Shinoda, best known for his rapping, sang a featured vocal. Shinoda sang in the songs "In Between" and the B-side song, "No Roads Left", as well as rapping and singing in the songs "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High". Despite the rarity of Shinoda-fronted singing tracks, music magazine Hit Parader ranked him at number 72 of the Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. Shinoda and Rubin again shared a production credit for Linkin Park's fourth album, A Thousand Suns, which was released on September 14, 2010. This album featured more of his singing than the rapping experience. Shinoda raps in three tracks, specifically "When They Come for Me", "Wretches and Kings" and second single "Waiting for the End", while he sings on numerous songs (specifically verses), such as third single "Burning in the Skies", "Robot Boy", "Blackout", fourth single "Iridescent" and first single "The Catalyst". Bennington and Shinoda sing simultaneously together on "The Catalyst", "Jornada del Muerto" and "Robot Boy", while "Iridescent" features all band members singing together. Linkin Park released their fifth album Living Things on June 26, 2012. This album was stated as more "rap-centric" by Shinoda compared to the previous two albums. Whereas there were tracks like "Skin to Bone", "Roads Untraveled" and "Castle of Glass" which featured the singing vocals by Shinoda and had folk music, influenced by the works of Bob Dylan, as well as the inspirations of Dylan. Allmusic described Shinoda's work for the album as, "a fitting soundtrack for aging rap-rockers who are comfortable in their skin but restless at heart". Recharged, which is a remix album consisting remixes of original songs from Living Things, was released on October 29, 2013. Shinoda used his EDM experience he got from Avicii while working on the track "Wake Me Up", and also from Steve Aoki while working on "A Light That Never Comes", to remix some songs for the album. Shinoda reinterpreted songs like "Castle of Glass" and "Victimized". He also worked with his old friends like DJ Vice and Ryu for the album.

In 2014, Shinoda worked with Delson to produce the band's sixth studio album, The Hunting Party which was released on June 17, 2014. The album is the first one to have featuring artists like Page Hamilton of Helmet, Rakim, Daron Malakian of System of a Down, and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. The first single of the album, "Guilty All the Same", is the first non-remix song by the band to feature rap by a guest artist instead of Shinoda.

In 2017, Shinoda again worked with Delson on the production of One More Light. The album is the first to feature other songwriters rather than the band itself. The album overall includes singing from Shinoda, but a few songs have rap in them. "Good Goodbye" is a song featuring heavy rapping by Shinoda, "Stormzy" and "Pusha T".

Fort Minor

In 2004, Shinoda formed a side project called Fort Minor, which he used as an avenue to further showcase his hip-hop background. He explained the origin of the project's name in an interview stating,

Fort Minor's debut album, titled The Rising Tied, was released on November 22, 2005. The album featured musical collaborations from Styles of Beyond, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Black Thought of The Roots, John Legend, Holly Brook, Jonah Matranga, and Celph Titled. Jay-Z also served as the album's executive producer. The Rising Tied was positively received by critics. The album's most successful single, "Where'd You Go" , peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs like, "Petrified" and "Remember the Name" gained popularity when they were used as the soundtrack for NBA Overtime on TNT.

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 at 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.

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 would go on an indefinite hiatus, because of his dedication to Linkin Park. 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 interview in 2014, Shinoda stated that there could be a possible Fort Minor album in 2015.

On June 21, 2015, Shinoda officially confirmed Fort Minor's return with a status update and the release of a new single, "Welcome". Fort Minor also appeared as the musical guest on the TBS late-night talk show Conan on Monday, June 22. Fort Minor also appeared on a few shows during Linkin Park's touring schedule.

Art and painting

Shinoda has had a hand in most artistic facets of Linkin Park's imagery, including album artwork, band merchandise, web design, and on-stage production art. He designed the cover art for Styles of Beyond's debut album, 2000 Fold, Saukrates' debut album, The Underground Tapes, and DJ Frane's debut album, Frane's Fantastic Boatride, all released in 1999. He has also worked on several art projects throughout his career.

In 2003, he did a collaborative "remix" shoe for DC Shoes, remixing the "Clientele". He reworked the colors and materials for the shoe, and additionally designed all the packaging and print advertisements. The following year, he also designed a customization of a Kid Robot "Munny" doll for a charity auction. Later in 2008, Shinoda partnered with DC Shoes again on a second DC Remix Series project. The new collaboration featured a "great juxtaposition of Shinoda's unique influences: accomplished artist versus recording-breaking musician, American upbringing versus Japanese heritage." The MS/DC limited edition remix has two different versions – Xander and Pride. Roughly 2000 pairs of the limited edition shoes were made available for purchase when the sneaker was released on August 1, 2008.

In 2004, Shinoda created a series of ten paintings which became the basis of the Fort Minor debut album, The Rising Tied. That series became the backbone for the packaging of the album, and was featured in Shinoda's first public art show "Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs". In addition to the ten Fort Minor pieces, the show also featured thirteen more original works and five collaborative pieces. "Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs" opened at Gallery 1988 on Sunday, November 19, 2006. Later that year, Shinoda founded a college scholarship at Art Center College of Design to benefit future illustration and graphic design students. Named the Michael K. Shinoda Endowed Scholarship, it is awarded based on financial need and merit. The scholarship was awarded for the first time in 2006. The scholarship fund is made possible through the sale of his original artwork on his website, art shows and his DC Shoes projects.

On July 11, 2008, Shinoda's second public art show "Glorious Excess (BORN)" premiered at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The show included nine new pieces, with an exclusive signing on opening night. The show served as part one of the "Glorious Excess" two-part series, with the second installment "Glorious Excess (DIES)" due at JANM at August 22, 2009. Shinoda commented on the inspiration behind the Glorious Excess series, stating, "It Got to a point where the pervasiveness of 'celebrity news' concerned me. It seemed like it has jumped out of its niche into places where it doesn't belong. I would be watching the news, and thinking, 'of all the things going on in the world right now, why are they covering so-and-so's breakup?' It didn't make sense to me. Add to that the fact that I'm supposed to somehow 'belong' to that celebrity group—and I really don't feel like I do in a lot of ways—and you can see how the topic started to become really interesting to me. The Glorious Excess (BORN) show was my way of diving into those topics, trying to find answers. It follows a central 'celebrity' character, who is filthy rich, slightly violent, and famous without any particular skill or talent."

On November 6, 2014, Shinoda and Hahn painted an artwork on the Berlin Wall.

Other musical activities

Shinoda has also served as a music producer for several other artists and groups. In 2002, Shinoda and Joe Hahn collaborated with the X-Ecutioners to produce and perform on their single "It's Goin' Down". Later in 2002, Shinoda and Brad Delson established their own record label, Machine Shop Recordings. He helped produce Lupe Fiasco's 2006 release, Food & Liquor. He extensively worked with Styles of Beyond between 2009 and 2012 to help produce Reseda Beach, which also features his instrumental and vocal contribution. In addition albums, Shinoda scored the MTV VMA's in 2005 and also worked with Ramin Djawadi to score the video game, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. In 2011, he collaborated with Joseph Trapanese to compose the score for the American release of The Raid: Redemption.

In 2004, he released a remixed single and animated music video of the Depeche Mode 1989 single, "Enjoy the Silence". In 2005, Shinoda hosted the Rock Phenomenon mixtape/remix CD with DJ Vlad and Roc Raida. The CD is the first (and to date, only) in DJ Vlad's Rock Phenomenon series (which itself is a spin-off of Vlad's Rap Phenomenon mixtape series), and features a mashup of Linkin Park's "Papercut", and David Banner's "Like a Pimp (Remix)". For the 2006 Grammy awards, Shinoda and Brad Delson assembled the mashup track of "Numb/Encore" and "Yesterday" by The Beatles to be performed live by rapper Jay-Z, Linkin Park and former Beatles singer Paul McCartney. Shinoda teamed up with former bandmate Mark Wakefield to record and release a single, "Barack Your World", in October 2008.

Shinoda contributed on the music for CNN original documentary television series, This is Life with Lisa Ling. Shinoda contributed for the title theme for American television series Into the Badlands. Shinoda also provided the theme song for Noor Tagouri's A Woman's Job.

Machine Shop records

As Linkin Park succeeded in multi-platinum record sales, Warner Music Group granted Shinoda his own record label in 1999. It was first known as The Shinoda Imprint. He and bandmate Brad Delson together worked on the label in 2004 and renamed it to Machine Shop Records. The label signed several artists through late 2007.

Charity

Music For Relief is a 501(c)(3) Charitable organization dedicated to providing aid to survivors of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters through environmental programs. Music For Relief was founded by Linkin Park in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Since its inception in 2005, Music for Relief has raised over $8 million for the victims of:

• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and partnering with Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity to provide homes for those affected by the storm.
• California wildfires of October 2007
• Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh
• 2010 Haiti earthquake
• 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
• Hurricane Sandy
• Typhoon Haiyan

Shinoda was greatly inspired by both rock and hip-hop acts when he was a child. He grew up listening to Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, N.W.A, and Juice Crew, and later Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, The Roots and Aphex Twin. Other influences and favorites of Shinoda's include Led Zeppelin, Run–D.M.C., The Beatles, Rage Against the Machine, Purity Ring, Arctic Monkeys and Santigold. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Shinoda explained, "People just want junk food. They want throw-away junk food music that's going to make them lethargic and fat. We feel the same way about music. We want to hopefully move even more into being able to make more substantial music. We're definitely paying attention to the substance and the nuance, and we hope to make something that's really cutting edge and really different."

Various critics have compared Shinoda's rapping style to that of fellow rapper Eminem. A reviewer for Entertainment Weekly noted that Shinoda's vocals were "flowing like Eminem on Ambien" An editor for Uncut stated that The Rising Tied was "bound to please fans of Linkin Park and Eminem alike." Jo Timbuong of The Star thought "Where'd You Go" is similar to Eminem's song "When I'm Gone", noting the former as "more melancholic." A reviewer of the Scripps Howard News Service stated that Shinoda's rapping is "a smidge closer to Eminem than he is to Vanilla Ice."

Shinoda is a third generation Japanese American. His father and aunt were forced to live in a Japanese-American Internment Camp during World War II. He married author Anna Shinoda (née Hillinger) in 2003 and has two children. Shinoda was awarded with the Japanese American National Museum's Award of Excellence in 2006. In 2009, Shinoda received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Art Center College of Design. East West Players honored Shinoda with a Visionary Award and dinner in 2010. He has also expressed an interest in politics. Shinoda started writing articles for The Big Issue in September 2012 and was the publication's US election correspondent.

With Linkin Park

As Fort Minor

Production discography