Back in 2005, the debut album from MIKE SHINODA‘s hip-hop side project FORT MINOR was released. The Rising Tied spawned the Top 5 pop single 'Where’d You Go.'

Nearly a decade later, SHINODA returns with a new FORT MINOR single, 'Welcome.' You can check out the video above, and a free download is available at FortMinor.com.




“Fort Minor is a solo project,” Shinoda says. “It was born out of my earliest experience as a music and visual art fan. My influences were always outsider influences, songs sung by underdogs. I related to them because they were like me.”

Shinoda contineus, “And although Linkin Park was eventually embraced by millions, I eventually felt drawn back to the ‘outside’ — to reconnect with my voice and aesthetic as an individual. It’s modern DIY, fueled by technology, inspiration and ambition.”

The video was shot in VR/360, and features Shinoda painting a 12×80 foot canvas mural in Venice Beach, Calif. The mural was later broken apart into individual album sleeves. Shinoda has signed them, and they will be used for the upcoming vinyl release of the single.

Lyrically, the song seems to be a “screw you” to the hip-hop community, which never really embraced Fort Minor the first time around. Only the aforementioned cross-over smash ‘Where’d You Go’ really made a big impact — and that was on the pop charts.