People are (understanably) talking mostly about the lyrics, and there's definitely a tonne to discuss there, but from a musical perspective I'm just completely blown away by how good Mike's rapping is across these three songs. I haven't been particularly impressed with a Mike verse in years, but IMO all three of these songs feature some of the best rapping he's ever done. His verses on Watching As I Fall are straight fire. And I love the way he blurs the line between singing and rapping across the entire EP. It really suits him and in retrospect I'm surprised that we haven't really heard that style from him before.
Definitely. I think the only time we heard anything close was the reggae-rap on Waiting For The End. When "Place To Start" came on, I thought I knew how the song was gonna sound, then he goes into a rap cadence and back to singing again. I was like "Whoa." I also do think it's nice to hear him rap in more conscious-style lyrics again.
Listening to this more I'm enjoying it musically - it's good to hear the perspectives from people who know about rap and different styles of music. I'm not knowledgeable enough on it to be able to judge it in quality terms so thank you for that perspective! Mike and the other guys are in a particularly strange position - as Mike demonstrates with lyrics about his life's work, and whether he was defined by someone else. They not only lost their close friend they also lost their whole career as they knew it, and what they thought their future would be. I wish they didn't have to go through this but I believe in them. I also don't mean this as a criticism of Chester - his sudden passing by any means would have had the same outcome in terms of the career situation, and without him LP would never have existed. It's impressive how well Mike has expressed his anger and despair at the situation without any suggestion of blaming Chester.
Across the internet, I have not read one negative comment on these songs. Here, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit...none. There are a few lines here and there that kill me, though. The way he sings/raps some of these lines is just really emotional. I can't put this EP down. Absolutely agree.
I think this EP is so emotional and has some of the most well written lyrics I've heard in a long time, if not ever. I still don't believe it's been six months since Chester passed away and still haven't fully come to terms with accepting his passing, but seeing Mike openly singing and rapping about his feelings after Chester's passing is of great courage and I hope it's something that will help him with his grief. He blends very well the singing and rapping while making it sonically beautiful and haunting at the same time and the songs feel quite dark. I felt Place To Start was too short, but in a moment like this I can only support Mike and the band as they're trying to find a way to continue making music. I think this will remain as one of the EPs/albums of the year no matter what may be released in the months to come.
In a weird way, a Mike led Linkin Park may blend the rap vocals and sung vocals better than ever before. Especially if Mike can drift back and forth between them seamlessly like that.
These songs are the first time I've ever heard him do that. It's cool that he's continuing to develop his techniques and experiment with different deliveries
And honestly, it feels the most natural. Like this should be his signature style. Never too late right to develop a signature style right?
I agree, I was blown away too by just how good and confident Mike's raps were, and I can see that working. However I wonder people will say, when the hear that I would also have no problem if Kiiara took over, and Linkin Park then changed styles, or made sure never to rely on heavy screaming. That way at least in my mind they wouldn't be replacing Chester and Kiiara is apparently a big LP fan so it would seem natural to me.
Artists in hip-hop and beyond have been blurring rapping and singing for at least a decade now. At the moment, it mainly takes the form of singing with a hip-hop cadence, which Shinoda notably does during "Place To Start"
I think he does it better than most people I’ve heard in that style. I think it’s hard to do without sounding corny.
Is it just my mind playing tricks on me or does it should like Chestsr is present on the "Oooohs" at the end of Over Again?
I knew it was Mike's voice but it sounded like Chester was harmonizing with him. But yeah, like you said its my mind playing tricks on me.