The Rising Tied

The Rising Tied is the 2005 debut by American rap act Fort Minor- the side project of Linkin Park emcee Mike Shinoda. It features multiple appearances by rap group Styles of Beyond, as well as John Legend, Black Thought, Common, Skylar Grey (under her original pseudonym of Holly Brook), with production handled by Shinoda and Jay Z serving as executive producer

Shinoda has said of the album:

I wanted to send out the message that I’m not doing this just to get more attention to myself as a person. It’s more about the music than me, and I thought by putting another name on it, it would keep the attention on the music. ‘Fort’ represents the more aggressive side of the music. ‘Minor’ can mean a few things: if you’re talking about music theory, the minor key is darker. I wanted to name the album rather than having my name on the cover, because I want people to focus on the music, not me. In fact, the reason I named the record ‘The Rising Tied’ is because it’s a play on words. This “tied” group of people are coming up together in the context of this record.

The Rising Tied was released November 22, 2005, to critical acclaim. To date, it is the only Fort Minor album released.