The first time I heard Mike Shinoda was when I was in seventh grade and a friend let me listen to a Linkin Park song on his C.D. player. I loved it. I immediately became a fan and obtained several of their albums. But over time I gradually grew to like them less and less and when I had the chance to listen to the ‘The Rising Tied’ I was skeptical. However I was willing to give it a chance because I really liked the two songs that I had heard from the album. The first time that I listened to the album I liked it, however I would never have given it five stars. However, with every subsequent listen I began to enjoy it more and more. Now I am at the point where I would consider it to be one of my favorite albums.

‘The Rising Tied’ starts off with ‘Remember The Name’. Almost every sports player has heard this song from one time to another because it’s one of the best songs to play before a game to get pumped up. However, I not only find the lyrics relevant to sports, but to life in general. This is a great song and a great way to start off an album.

‘Right Now’ is probably my second favorite song on the album. There’s this feeling that I get when I listen to it that’s really hard to explain, but it causes me to just love this song. Black Thought and Styles Of Beyond join Mike on this great track that takes the listener on a trip through life.

Someone right now is leaving their apartment,
Looking down at the street, wondering where their car went,
Someone in the car sitting at a signal,
In front of a restaurant, staring through the window,
at someone right now with their finger in their teeth,
Who could use a little floss right across the street,
there's somebody on the curb who really needs a jacket,
spent half the rent at a bar getting plastered.

The album continues on with good song after good song. Yes, there are definitely songs that stand out more than the rest, as with any album, but no, there isn’t a single song on the album that I would say I don’t like. ‘Petrified’ and ‘In Stereo’ are both bangers that are sure to get your head nodding. ‘Where’d You Go’ is the one song on the album that got serious radio play. It’s a great track in which Mike Shinoda gives us an emotional depiction of a person suffering from the absence of a person he loves. It’s a beautiful song, and the chorus, which is sung by Holly Brook & Jonah Matranga, really adds a lot to it.

‘Cigarettes’ is another personal favorite of mine, especially because I believe it is so relevant to today’s pop culture. Mike spits some great lines that really make you think about the materialism and misogyny that are present in much of today’s rap music. He compares these problems in the rap industry to a cigarette, coming to the conclusion that both are harmful, but yet we choose to partake in them anyway.

The one song on that album that I love more than any other would have to be ‘Kenji’. It is a haunting account of the internment of the Japanese in America during World War II. Mike’s lyricism isn’t perfect and he doesn’t have razor sharp delivery, but he more than makes up for it with pure heart and emotion. This song is especially close to my heart because my grandparents were also interned during the war and this story could be theirs, or any other Japanese person living during that time period. ‘Kenji’ is just a great song, and seriously, anytime that anybody is willing to make a song that delves into subject matter this interesting, it’s at least worth a listen.

The album does have a lot of guest appearances, and while the guests usually do a good job with the tracks, I wish there were a few more songs with Mike going solo. Styles Of Beyond appears on the aforementioned ‘Right Now’, and the tracks ‘Feel Like Home’, ‘Back Home’, ‘Believe Me’, and ‘Red To Black’. ‘Red To Black’ is a great song about a friend of Mike’s named Victor whose parents get divorced, and the effects of the divorce on him. This song is especially relevant in today’s culture in which more marriages fail than work.

‘Get Me Gone’ is Mike’s answer to all the haters that were doubting him before the release of the first Linkin Park record. It’s way too short, but it has some really amusing lines including my personal favorite:

Because these people love to put a twist to your words,
To infer that you said something f*cking absurd.
Oh, did I lose you at infer?
Not used to hearing a verse that uses over first grade vocabulary words?

The album closes out with the gloomy ‘Slip Out The Back’. It’s a great song but to me it can be a little depressing at times. When I first heard it I thought that it was about suicide, but after subsequent listens I began to think differently. However, it is still not a song that I would listen too if I was in a really bad mood.

Track Listing:

Intro (N/A)
Remember The Name (5 Stars)
Right Now (5 Stars)
Petrified (4.5 Stars)
Feel Like Home (4 Stars)
Where’d You Go (4.5 Stars)
In Stereo (4 Stars)
Back Home (4.5 Stars)
Cigarettes (5 Stars)
Believe Me (4 Stars)
Get Me Gone (4 Stars)
High Road (4.5 Stars)
Kenji (5 Stars)
Red To Black (4.5 Stars)
The Battle (N/A)
Slip Out The Back (5 Stars)

‘The Rising Tied’ is an amazing rap album with a minimum amount of filler and some truly great songs. Mike is definitely not the most technically proficient rapper and his delivery gets a little sloppy at times. But this is really the only complaint that I have with the album. What really makes this album special is the fact that Shinoda really switches up the subject matter to include topics like divorce, the rap industry, Japanese internment, and loneliness. Anytime that you have diverse subject matter mixed in with a passionate emcee, the result is usually brilliance, and that is certainly the case with ‘The Rising Tied’.

Recommended:
Yes

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