Mike Shinoda

Mike Shinoda is an American musician, producer, and visual artist best known as co-founder, vocalist, rapper, guitarist, and keyboardist of Linkin Park, the band he formed in the mid-1990s (originally under the name Xero). As one of the group's principal songwriters and producers, he was central to shaping their fusion of rock, rap, and electronic elements that defined a generation of nu-metal and alternative rock.

Beyond Linkin Park, Shinoda has pursued an active solo and side-project career. He founded Fort Minor, a hip-hop project through which he explored rap-focused songwriting outside the band's rock format. He has also composed music for film, television, and video games, including scoring work for titles like «Medal of Honor: Warfighter» and contributing to «The Raid: Redemption» and AMC's «Into the Badlands».

Following the death of Linkin Park's lead singer Chester Bennington in 2017, Shinoda led the band's tribute concert later that year and channeled his grief into the 2018 solo album «Post Traumatic», a deeply personal project processing loss and grief. His work spans rock, rap, pop, and electronic influences, reflecting a restless, genre-blending approach that has made him one of the more versatile figures to emerge from the nu-metal era.