Hip Hop N More Interviews Mike Shinoda

‘Welcome’ felt even more special after everyone saw the innovative “360 degree” music video. How did you come up with the idea?

I’ve been interested in making a 360 / VR video for some time. The thing that made me pull the trigger was the fact that YouTube / Google opened 360 up to anyone with the app. I didn’t want fans to have to download some random app to see the video, I knew they wouldn’t do that. YT made 360 possible on a large scale, so I went for it.

It came out great. When you write new stuff, do you pre-decide that ‘this is for Linkin Park’ or ‘this fits more for Fort Minor’ or you just go with the flow?

I go with the flow.

You also recently joined Snapchat. How has the experience been interacting with fans there?

I like Snapchat. I hope I’m entertaining people on there… it’s mostly me trying to show people what my day looks like. With that said, some days are more interesting than others, so I go dark for periods. Then I might be on it heavy for a week or so. We’re about to be playing 5 stadiums in mainland China with Linkin Park, which I’m very excited about, so I hope to be able to shoot some stuff—my name on Snapchat is MikeShinodaLive by the way.

Apart from Linkin Park and Fort Minor, you also involve yourself in a lot of other projects like movie soundtracks, art, custom shoes & watches and other business ventures. How do you manage to do that and still find time for family, etc?

It’s always a balance. But, for example, I was able to take a short vacation in between the “Welcome” release and the China tour. I’m writing to you from my laptop in my closet; I just got home from the trip. Tomorrow I fly out. I guess that’s what makes it fun?

One last question and this is something we ask everyone we interview: Prince or Michael Jackson and why?

Prince has a wide range of musical talent, from writing to singing to playing to recording, and as weird as he got, I felt like he never went as far off the deep end as Michael seemed to. And although Michael is still the greatest pop star of all time, Prince is more my brand of musician, if I have to choose between the two.

Check out Fort Minor’s official website | Mike Shinoda on Instagram | Twitter