Almamu Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Here's something from 20~ years ago that might be of interest to everyone. Two Xero songs featuring Mike and Joe found on Urban Network Magazine's hip-hop compilations Rapology 13 and Rapology 14. The songs are entitled "Drop" and "Fiends". At the time, Joe used to write reviews for the magazine. Lee Cadena, Rap Editor at Urban Network and creator of the Rapology series, started an artist management and development company in 1998 called LCM which worked with Xero. While Fiends is under the Xero name, Drop is credited to Kenji and Artofficial. Kenji, also the name of a Fort Minor song on The Rising Tied that everyone knows so well, was one of the names Mike went by as a rapper in the mid-to-late 90s. Artofficial is assumed to be Joe, because Mike mentions him on the song and his scratching is featured all over it. Mike was involved in the cover art and design for the CD cases...view the art here. We are working on lyrics for the songs...discussion later in this thread. YouTube videos courtesy of LPA: LPLive user Almau: "Hello everyone, some of you might (or might not) remember me from buying recently (without really knowing much) the two CDs posted in this thread (for those Reddit users at least). Well, long story short, I received them in the mail today. I listened to the songs and they look legit. For those that are interested these are the scans of all the stuff that I received, this includes CDs and covers. These songs weren't released previously as far as I know I've just dumped the songs in .wav format (as for some reason FLAC export wasn't working correctly in my VLC installation) for you to listen to them. You can download them from here:" DOWNLOAD: Kenji & Artofficial (of Xero) - Drop Xero F 007 - Fiends CD RAP UP 3/11 EDIT: Mark Wakefield is on Fiends, doing backing vocals in the chorus. That is also likely Brad on guitar...meaning this is looking like a full effort from Mike, Mark, Joe, and Brad on the song - the same songwriters as Rhinestone from the Xero tape. Lyrics for Fiends can be found here. Lyrics for Drop can be found here. LPL Staff Edit: Thank you to Almamu and LinkinParkDrew for finding these gems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipees Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Best. First post. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioNick Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) I feel like this should be part of the old school Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack. Edited March 10, 2017 by AudioNick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mt2oo8 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Holy shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPAAltwireDerek Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) Good news: These are likely legitimate. Mike went by Kenji back in the day when he rapped with the Styles of Beyond crew, and they actually used to go by Junkyard Scientific (hence the Stick N' Move lyric). This was information Mike gave me back when he gave the xero lyrics to LPA, so the odds of this being legit...considering it says 'Kenji' are pretty decent. Good find man. Great job. Edited March 10, 2017 by LPADerek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPMaskMan Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) OMG Drop sounds like Mike from Xero times. Friends has more Xero vibe. Edited March 10, 2017 by LPMaskMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipees Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 In this scan it's written (on the left side):"Concept: Mike Shinoda" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpliveusername Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Holy shit! Thank you very much for this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almamu Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 The album art of Rapology 13 screams Mike to me. I do think that it is from him for the style and according to the cds booklet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 These are hilarious and awesome. Amazing find, thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinkInThePark Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Man, he sounds amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPAAltwireDerek Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 The album art of Rapology 13 screams Mike to me. I do think that it is from him for the style and according to the cds booklet. The only reason I said 'should be' is cause I couldn't hear the tracks at work. But judging by my staff at LPA saying it sounds just like Mike, and given that he went by Kenji, and is listed in the booklet? Yep these are the real deal...unless Mike somehow says otherwise. Fantastic find my good man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SergSlim Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 CD credits: Thanks to..... Mike Shinoda for working so hard on this project even though he was coughing up a lung... Also Mike is credited for Art direction, Illustrations and Graphic Design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerLP Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Its amazing how it takes THIS long to find this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXoBlackOut Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Damn, what a find! I love this version of Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranger Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 I wonder if Mike was like "shit, how they find this stuff? planned to release it on LPU??". anyway, this was the greatest first post ever. Thank you so much Almamu for this exclusive stuffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpplus Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Man this is awesome. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlassCastles Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Wow. Amazing find, dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennjii Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 AMAZING absolutely AMAZING thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerioDrew Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) As the one who discovered these songs (i posted the original thread)https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkinPark/comments/5xb1t1/urban_networks_rapology/here is some more info about the tracks:https://www.discogs.com/Various-Urban-Networks-Rapology-13/release/9521613https://www.discogs.com/fr/Various-Rapology-14/release/9622841I first found them at discogs, if you click on artist the links will lead you to Xero's and Mike Shinoda's pages, further more both collections credit Mike Shinoda as the graphic designer.also the songs are about 1997-98 even though there is no info of it, thats my belief due to the fact that Rapology 16 was released at 1999 and since Chester joined at 1998-99 (its not sure, at interviews they say 99 but they have released some Hybrid Theory demos at LPU's that are from 1998) these demos should have been released at about 97-98.*Note: Xero's song is called "Fiends" not "Friends". Edited March 10, 2017 by LinkinParkDrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfox Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 This is better than whole LPU16 CD. Thanks man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpliveusername Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 This is better than whole LPU16 CD. Thanks man! Exactly what I thought! also the songs are about 1997-98 even though there is no info of it, thats my belief due to the fact that Rapology 16 was released at 1999 and since Chester joined at 1998-99 (its not sure, at interviews they say 99 but they have released some Hybrid Theory demos at LPU's that are from 1998) these demos should have been released at about 97-98. Chester joined the band in March 1999. That's confirmed. Mike was already doing hip-hop stuff before Xero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almamu Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) As the one who discovered these songs (i posted the original thread) https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkinPark/comments/5xb1t1/urban_networks_rapology/ here is some more info about the tracks: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Urban-Networks-Rapology-13/release/9521613 https://www.discogs.com/fr/Various-Rapology-14/release/9622841 I first found them at discogs, if you click on artist the links will lead you to Xero's and Mike Shinoda's pages, further more both collections credit Mike Shinoda as the graphic designer. also the songs are about 1997-98 even though there is no info of it, thats my belief due to the fact that Rapology 16 was released at 1999 and since Chester joined at 1998-99 (its not sure, at interviews they say 99 but they have released some Hybrid Theory demos at LPU's that are from 1998) these demos should have been released at about 97-98. *Note: Xero's song is called "Fiends" not "Friends". Thank you for clarification. Please take a look to the original post admins to add lpdrew to the source as I did add that link to my original post so not only I get credited for it but LP Drew too Edited March 10, 2017 by Almamu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerioDrew Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Exactly what I thought! Chester joined the band in March 1999. That's confirmed. not really check Slip, its dated at 1998 even though its a Hybrid Theory demo Thank you for clarification. Please take a look to the original post admins to add lpdrew to the source as I did add that link to my original post so not only I get credited for it but LP Drew too thanks mate we indeed made a great discovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almamu Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) not really check Slip, its dated at 1998 even though its a Hybrid Theory demo thanks mate we indeed made a great discovery You're welcome. I wouldn't have such a nice piece of the history of Linkin Park and Mike Shinoda if it wasn't for you Edited March 10, 2017 by Almamu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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