Although Chester's vocals do sound much cleaner when they debuted it live, you can still hear the vocal effects in the background of the video; clearly they were playing a separate vocal track as a backing track or something. If they were to release an officially mixed video of that performance, I'm sure it would be much more audible in the mix than the cell phone vids made it sound.
Bullfuckingshit, every single one of us watched the performance with Steve Aoki. Unless the lyrics are completely different from the studio version or he switches his flow up, I can say I have heard the song. It's not like Linkin Park are the Dave Matthews Band where they'll play a song drastically different from its studio recordiing.
Kanye West, in one song, ends three lines in a row with "tonight," ends three lines in a row with "not," and ends three lines in a row with "shit," as well as making use of improper english by making up words like "wronger" and everybody thinks it's genious. Mike Shinoda repeats the word "me" for four lines and uses one word twice in the same line and everybody calls him lazy, cliche and simple...
To be fair, I think most people who call Kanye a "genius" are talking about his production. Which is still debatable, of course.
My point is that everyone hangs off of every word that Linkin Park writes and are quick, very quick, to shoot it down. laughable that it has become cliche for someone to say that something about Linkin Park is cliche. It's ridiculous that it is expected for someone to say that. My theory of a band on a pedestal and people on high horses. There you have it.
How could you know if the people who call Kanye a genius are the ones who criticize Linkin Park? The internet at large does not share the same identity and opinions. To be honest, I don't think most of the people who think Kanye is great even bother listening to Linkin Park, much less "hanging off their every word." With all due respect, the only person who seems to be putting the band on a pedestal are people like yourself. To your own admission, you like everything the band puts out. That sounds more like a pedestal to me? Maybe I didn't understand what you meant.
What I meant by that is that everyone over-examines every single thing that they do, and instead of taking what they do at face value, they are trying to compare them to a factitious image of what the band is. People over complicate Linkin Park all of the time. It's like they have some idea that Linkin Park has gotten a name for themselves by making some intensely complex music. They take that and chastize the band when they make something simple. I've said it before that if you're looking for deep lyrics or wildly complex songs, Linkin Park is not that band. Also that bit about Kanye was an example. Not saying that the fanbases are the same, because they are not.
I can still love the band even though I recognize that Mike often raps like someone who hasn't graduated high school. It'd be one thing if he's never dropped a well written verse in his life, but that's not the case (a lot of awesome lines in Fort Minor and other LP tracks). For me, even if his rapping was average on a consistent basis I'd be content. Of course, on too many songs it's not even average. Come on Mike, you can do better than this.
Yeah, I'm sorry, I had to jump in on this one. I agree with above posters. "Genius" West for me is usually his production (which was crap on the last album). If anyone you know called that rhyme scheme genius I would disagree. West has just as many stinkers as Mike Shinoda does. Your example and this song's rap is kind of cliche and simple. Mike seems to be stuck on this "when I was younger they told me x, now I'm older and I y" theme for his raps lately. Diamonds from Sierra Leone is to Black Skinhead as Cigarettes is to A Light That Never Comes. When you've heard someone rap pretty amazingly it's kind of hard to stomach the super simple stuff, no matter what the song, no matter who the artist is. He set the bar pretty high and seems content to black out lyric-wise only a few songs per album while the rest and most collabs get Simple Simon Shinoda. Edit: and he Mike was like "oh we started this song last month" I could be like "oh ok" but from the sounds of it he's had more than enough time to get his lyrically weight up. I love all the guys but more and more with Linkin Park I feel like Mike and Chester only feel like they can go 100% ability wise if they're doing solo tracks. They water themselves down more and more within the context of the band.
"Burn It Down" and "Lies" aside, I think that Shinoda's rapping throughout "Living Things" ("Victimized" and "Breaks", specifically) is easily some of the best that he's ever done, above and beyond 99% of his Fort Minor verses and he even managed without cursing. Shinoda's rapping is stronger within the context of Linkin Park music; that's the only context in which it actually works.
I Completely disagree. I thought Fort Minor was Shinoda's best rapping. Right Now, Cigarettes, Kenji, Slip Out the Back...the list goes on. 90% of the Rising Tied is better than anything he's done with LP if you ask me. But to each his own.
I think if his rap in the studio version sounded like his live version, then this song wouldn't sound as much of an EDM song. Which they are trying to balance out between Steve and LP.
It is "Bullfuckingshit". Everyone is drawing conclusions from a not-so-great live version of the song from some fan and a small :43 second clip. In my opinion you can take everything we've heard so far, along with your attitude, and shove it all straight up your fucking ass until the full version of the song comes out. Dude.
Hey, chill man. You know the rules of the site. Otherwise I'm going to have to start handing out infractions
And yet, you're not saying a word to the people who think it's already awesome or the admin who had the same opinion. So you're a hypocrite and a coward.
But to get back on topic. It'll be nice to hear an electro/dubstep/whatever song involving Linkin Park that isn't just a remix they had no real part in. I'm really surprised a number of Linkin Park hooks haven't been completely oversampled in EDM. The "lift me up" in The Catalyst for example. That would be a ridiculously catchy little hook for a break before a massive drop. I wonder if the dance world purposely snubs LP or they just can't get their hands on any good acapellas from the label. *goes to make epic Catalyst drumstep mix*
I agree with you on LIVING THINGS containing some of his best lines. LT and ATS's raps seem to be focused on anarchy and fighting I've noticed. (Aside from WFTE) "I was duckin' down to reload", "Are you in the firing squad or are you in the line up?", "They're acting like a riot, it's a riot I'll give 'em".
Mike's rap in Vicimized is one of my favorites ever by him, but I also find his rapping on LITE almost bad (which is why I don't listen to that song so much). The thing is that he has several different styles, and I think that that is mostly a good thing, even if I personally would prefer the style of rapping he is doing on Victimized and WTCFM.
I KNOW! I've been waiting for a proper Catalyst remix for ages. Thought it'd be perfect for remixes but nope.