Thug Life Army

Mike Shinoda will release his much anticipated hip-hop side project under the name Fort Minor on November 22nd on Linkin Park's label Machine Shop Recordings / Warner Bros. Records.

The album, titled "The Rising Tied," is executive produced by rap artist and hip-hop entrepreneur Jay-Z and features collaborations with such well-known hip-hop artists as Common, John Legend, Kenna, Black Thought, Linkin Park's Joe Hahn and new Machine Shop artists Styles of Beyond and Holly Brook. The album is produced by Shinoda, who not only wrote every track, but played nearly every instrument as well.

"The Fort Minor record is all about getting back to basics in hip-hop, both sonically and for me personally," shared Shinoda. "And working with Jay-Z again has been phenomenal. We can''t wait for people to hear the final product."

Currently the club 12" "Petrified"/"Remember the Name" is being shipped to hip-hop club and mix show DJs nationwide. Both tracks will be available for download starting October 4th online.

Shinoda is half the vocal firepower of the multi-platinum, Grammy® Award-winning band Linkin Park, trading diaphragmatic diatribes with singer Chester Bennington and infusing the searing alternative rock with equally intense hip-hop.

Fort Minor is a wholly unique, unadulterated hip-hop album, owing as much to Shinoda's polished lyricism as his musical adeptness. The variety of themes, styles and moods he creates makes this side project likely to do much more than simply satisfy existing Linkin Park fans; it threatens to expose Shinoda as a rap devotee who is as at home in hip-hop as he is in the cross-genre hybrid of Linkin Park.

Multiple Grammy® Award-winning group Linkin Park has sold over 35 million records worldwide in just five years. Their first album, "Hybrid Theory," has been certified platinum 18 times, and their second album, "Meteora," ten times. In collaboration with Jay-Z they also released six tracks on a groundbreaking EP, "Collision Course," which garnered rave reviews. They plan to release their next album in Spring 2006. In addition, Linkin Park established Music For Relief with the Red Cross in January 2005 to help aid victims of world catastrophes, the first being the Tsunami in Southeast Asia. For more information on Linkin Park, Fort Minor and Music For Relief, please log on to www.linkinpark.com , www.fortminor.com , or www.musicforrelief.org .