Mike shinoda is the leader of this band, the mastermind, and it feels like he has so much potential when it comes to his rapping skills fort minor as an example and some LP songs. I feel like if LP goes in that direction he can show his skills off and LP will spread into the hip hop scene. What do you think, what direction should LP go in next?
I am strongly of the opinion that neither Shinoda nor LP could ever belong in "the hip-hop scene", as much as anyone might disagree.
No I'm right there with you, Mike at best is just an "ok" rapper. Fort Minor was a success in 2005 because everyone expected "the Linkin Park guy" to have a terrible rap album and it ended up being pretty good. He's by no means a great rapper and to be honest I think he's gotten worse with time. LP have always done good with hip-hop elements, and Mike can do some fairly good music playing with those elements, but as far as seeing them try to go full-on rap? A disaster waiting to happen.
Also, if I remember right, Mike still wrote many Hip-Hop demos during MtM era and the followings album eras but the rest of the band didn't vote highly on them so they didn't pass(I'm not making this up, right? If I am tell me, I'm not sure about this). With THP, most of the band seemed to like the direction Mike wanted to go in so they agreed. I mean, Rob has talked a lot about THP, Chester was blabbering with excitement in one interview and Dave said he defenitely wanted to play THP songs live. Although, Brad apparently wasn't into it(Derek's "like" transcript) and apparently refused to try new things at first and Mike and Chester said they had to run everything by him. I don't know about Joe. So, I don't think Mike can just get the rest of the band easily to do hip-hop if he wants.
For me. NO! As much as i love the raps from Mike, but a whole album? As a "rock" band, which they defintly are, the should stay with rock elements. A whole "Hip-Hop ALbum" would be too much in my opinion. Maybe it woulde pretty good (who knows?) but i would see such an album with two different minds. I am not sure how tey will continue with LP7 (with all the interviews by Mike to#NotEnoughVisceralMusic) i could think about another "guitar driven" album.
I think Mike should get another FM project off the ground and truly showcase his rapping potential. For one thing, LP would not decide to have an album that encompasses one genre for the most part (it's always been this way since after meteora) and 'going hip-hop' would be best done in FM, not LP.
I think the band has continued to incorporate hip-hop throughout their music in very obvious ways, even since the days of Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns. Those albums still had multiple tracks in which Mike had the opportunity to rap (including "When They Come For Me" and "Wretches and Kings" which are very, very hip-hop but have a lot of electronic elements). LIVING THINGS saw a lot of Mike rapping, and actually I thought he thrived on that album. It was an album in which Mike just kind of bragging about himself didn't really sound that bad. I actually liked his verses on "Lost in the Echo," and "Victimized," as well as on "Until It Breaks." I actually think over the last couple of albums he has shown his potential, or at least has gotten close to it. Granted, I wasn't the biggest fan of Mike's raps on The Hunting Party with the exception of "Wastelands." I say all of that to more or less illustrate that I don't think the band really needs to go in a hip hop direction. A lot of what the band does is driven by Mike, particularly this last album. Mike has the opportunity to go back and create another Fort Minor album, and to make an even far better one (looking back, he could have lyrically done so much better, in my opinion) if he wants. I think the band is better off continuing to experiment with different genres and challenge themselves in different ways. I don't think I could deal with a full hip-hop album by the band. Additionally, Mike incorporates quite a bit of rap and hip hop into live shows. He has his own solos where he gets to show off some of the work he's done. It's not a bad thing by any means, but I just don't think the band needs to pursue any more hip hop exclusively. I think the way they continue to incorporate some of those elements is just fine, even if I am not the biggest fan sometimes.
I think them going hip-hop would be so obvious now that they've done a heavy rock record for the reason that they (Mike, rather) weren't hearing what they wanted to hear. "WE SAVED ROCK'N'ROLL, NOW LET'S SAVE HIP-HOP!"
I've said it before, I'll say it again. They should drop the rapping completely. It's the worst aspect of Linkin Park for the last couple of years. Now to get shit on again...
I would be interested if Mike's rapping style was like it was in And One, With You, BIO or Blackbirds. His bragging is a little too repetitive. Maybe, that's what other rappers do but I bet they have other strengths.
I'm ok, when Mike is rapping, but i'm not a fan of that idea. I would like to hear much more an album with the style of "No More Sorrow" (with the Live intro like at iTunes Festival) or "Malathion + Tritonus". I'm just not interested enough in (pure) Hip-Hop.
Of course Brad wasn't thrilled with THP, it required him actually having to play guitar on it. Though the rest of the post is accurate, I think LPA for whatever reason doesn't really understand how much control Mike actually has in the band (which is to say, the overwhelming majority of it), if he really wanted to do rap, there'd be more rapping.
I'm actually with the guys saying drop the rap completely. I think at this point it is just totally cliché and forced.
I think Mike should just play keyboard Also, Joe should wear a labcoat and cowboy hat Seriously though, I would prefer if Mike bought back this kinda rapping style: [video=youtube;OywOhCKurDg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OywOhCKurDg[/video] Not sure how many of you have heard this song, but I reckon if Mike incorporated this style of lyrics/flow with Chester coming in for the chorus it would work well. That being said, in response to the original question; I don't think LP should go fully rap. A new LP album wouldn't feel right without a couple of ballads
I think it would be fucking cool of LP did a Black Metal album. Brad is a #ModernGuitarGod after all guys!
I want them to do a full Electronica Folk album with no screaming and no rapping with Mike having a singing verse on the majority of the tracks or half lead and half singing together with Chester similarly to the second verses of Iridescent, Waiting for the End, Castle of Glass,and Burn it Down.