Monday, February 13, 2006  

Fort Minor

Washington Post, Monday, February 13, 2006; Page C05

It took only one song for Fort Minor's Mike Shinoda to ask the crowd at Nation on Friday to put their hands up and wave them from side to side. The rapper-songwriter, also a member of Linkin Park, later had a contest to see which side of the club's audience was louder and asked to see fans' lighters and cell phones during a ballad-rap. It was all so comforting.

But when Shinoda wasn't engaging in every hip-hop performance cliche in the book, he and his crew brought the noise. And what a crew it was: two violinists, a cellist, a drummer, three backup singers, singer Holly Brook, DJ Cheapshot and Styles of Beyond's rappers Ryu and Tak.

While the string section was little more than decoration, the rest of the group played off one another in an appealingly loose fashion. It was the last night of Fort Minor's first U.S. tour, and Shinoda, fresh from performing with Linkin Park, Jay-Z and Paul McCartney at the Grammy Awards, was ready to celebrate. He also was about to turn 29 the next day, so a birthday singalong and a big shot of Crown Royal helped.

Over the course of 15 songs, Fort Minor played hip-hop like a rock band, with a firm sense of dynamics and flow. Unlike so many rap performances, where microphones bleed from the manic vocal abuse heaped upon them, Shinoda, Ryu and Tak always sounded tight and audible.

Most of the tunes came from Fort Minor's debut, "The Rising Tied," including "Remember the Name," "Feels Like Home" and "Where'd You Go," which Shinoda dedicated to recently deceased hip-hop producer Jay Dee (aka J Dilla). But the band also performed Linkin Park's "In the End" and dipped into its "We Major" mix tape for "There They Go," "Bleach" and "Dolla," which is built on a massive Led Zeppelin riff from "The Ocean."

Before the last tune, "Petrified," Shinoda said, "This is either a complete train wreck or the best show of all time." It was neither, but it was a lot of fun. --Christopher Porter
--
Outtakes:

Why do artists think it's OK to spit water on their fans? Maybe because said fans open their pieholes and wait for the goober fluid to come flying like dolphins at feeding time. Seriously, dudes & dudesses, that's disgusting, and I don't care home much Listerine and whiskey Mike Shinoda gargled before he loogied on you, he still LOOGIED ON YOU. And you loved it. Germophobia is not an illness, people. Catch it!

Download the not-bad-at-all We Major mixtape for free right here.

Posted by CP | Link |

---