Mike Shinoda is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and producer best known for cofounding the multi-Platinum rock band LINKIN PARK. ∙ Shinoda began taking piano lessons at age six, before his love of hip-hop inspired him to branch out to electronic keyboards and samplers in his early teens. ∙ Following the massive success of LINKIN PARK’s Hybrid Theory, he cowrote, produced, and performed on The X-Ecutioners’ 2002 rap-rock hit “It’s Goin’ Down.” ∙ His 2004 remix of Depeche Mode’s 1989 hit “Enjoy the Silence” reached the Top 10 in Belgium, Germany, and the UK. ∙ “Numb/Encore,” a track that Shinoda produced and cowrote for the 2004 Jay-Z and LINKIN PARK EP, Collision Course, won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. ∙ In 2005, Shinoda’s collaborative hip-hop project, Fort Minor, released the hit album The Rising Tied, which featured contributions from John Legend, Common, and Black Thought. ∙ Post Traumatic, his first project following the death of LINKIN PARK’s Chester Bennington, was a worldwide Top 20 smash in 2018.