As expected 2018 is off to a good start for the music world. On the 25th of January, the lyrical genius and multi-instrumentalist of Linkin Park – Mike Shinoda released his first EP which was not associated either with Linkin Park nor Fort Minor. There is an understandable reason for this since the three tracks touch extremely personal topics and make strong-willed statements regarding Mike himself. Post Traumatic is a must hear for any Linkin Park and Fort Minor fan as well as for any connoisseur of hip-hop music in general.

Post Traumatic

As much as the title speaks for itself there are several different topics touched in the EP, some regarding the tragic death of Mike‘s best friend and bandmate Chester Bennington, but not only.

Post Traumatic consists of three songs and it’s entire length is 9:34 minutes. However, in such a short time Mike Shinoda managed to cover what has been going on in his life and with Linkin Park for the past six months where he remained inactive and restrained himself from making many public statements. Apart from that, the EP touches topics regarding how Mike is struggling to find a way to deal with the grief from the loss “over and over again”. He also comments on the attitude of the people around him and speaks about his future and passion to keep doing what he is best at. Last, but not least, the musician and artist spreads some brutally honest truths about the society and the way he has been (and unfortunately still is) perceived and treated by the industry and a vast majority of people.

Style and Vibe

Needless to say, Mike once again completely owned the rap game. The EP is literally telling a story and each song carefully flows into the other almost creating a storyline of events and also smoothly altering the topic which is talked about.

I personally experienced a mix of emotions while listening to the three songs, starting with melancholy and slight sadness. The emotional burden that Mike has to experience is something we can really understand only if we have felt it otherwise the only thing we can do is empathize. The EP starts slowly and gently going through the stages Mike was forced to overcome (or at least that’s how I see it) and then steadily grows into a more aggressive and provoking tone. Finally, it finishes with a strong and passionate statement – Mike won’t stop doing what he loves and even if things will never be the same after what happened his passion for music and art is still alive and he is not willing to stop anytime soon.

Pre-Release and Future Appearances

Before I go into each song and tell you my interpretation, I think it is a good idea to state some facts you might have missed or are not aware of.

Mike started promoting the songs in social media a few days before they were released and stated that this are the most personal songs he has worked on. For this reason, he did not include anyone else in the process and created the lyrics, visuals, and animations all by himself. This is noticeable by the raw smartphone footage of the videos that the artist took himself.

In regards to the EP and specifically “Over Again” and “Watching as I fall”,  he often refers to the attitude of bystanders and onlookers who constantly try to put him down and to the music industry, which made huge attempts to push him out of the business. The struggles Mike is going through is extremely big, but what he says is that this is not something new for him – he has always fought with negativity and had to put 110% of hard work to get where he is now (and for people to remember his name.. funny huh.. no .. okay).  The source of aggression in him comes from false expectations and underestimation that people have for him. I completely understand his frustration with the fact that people expect him to stop making music and giving up just because times are tough for him. They have always been and he always made it, why would he stop now? On the contrary, I believe he will keep pushing forward and create more and more stunning songs and send meaningful messages to the public with his art. What those people who underestimate him will have to do is just watch him as he gets somewhere they will not. 

Additional info you might be interested in is that Mike announced he will be performing on this year’s Summer Sonic Festival (a place where Linkin Park and Fort Minor have always been warmly welcomed) as a solo artist.  He also mentioned that more songs are on the way, which definitely is something to look forward to.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this post helpful. A more detailed look at the three songs and the previously released “Looking for an answer” is coming in a bonus post on Thursday. Subscribe or watch my social media for updates if you don’t want to miss it!

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