True and that worked incredibly well. The Xero/Hybrid Theory era was Mike at the top of his game imo but he kept reinventing himself as a rapper and tried new approaches. Even when he was doing conscious rapping, HT was metaphorical, Meteora was blunt emotion and The Rising Tied was storytelling. His battle raps are usually hit or miss now imo. I'm glad he did it on LT and THP but it's old as hell now. His flow/delivery has improved so much that I want to hear something fresh. Don't get me wrong, I love his battle tracks. Until It Breaks last verse, Wastelands, Second verse of All For Nothing and I fuck heavy with Welcome but I think it's time for him to branch a bit more. Hell I don't care if all he wants to do is battle rap from now on. There's actually only one thing I want from his rapping and that's to be more creative on a technical level. I'm ok with the rapping on THP being less than it was on LT since it was more rock inspired but since lyrics are the priority here, I hope he just kills it. His last verse (Like Riding A Bike) is a good example recently of him just letting loose and being interesting lyrically. I do really love his rapping regardless how simple or technical he prefers it.
I'm interested in less rapping like on MTM and ATS where he really raps on 2 tracks rather than 4 or 5
I actually agree with this. It makes it much more interesting than hearing 5 verses that usually all kinda just bleed together. MTM is actually my favorite record with his rapping. Both those songs showed immense improvement lyrically and technically compared to Meteora. I noticed both albums contain both a banger song (Bleed It Out, Wretches And Kings) and a message/concept song (Hands Held High, When They Come For Me) I wouldn't mind a song like Until It Breaks where he just does his brag style and another song where he tackles a topic.
His battle rap style is kind of played out anymore. I thought it was done really well with "Until it Breaks", but I wasn't a fan of it on THP. I actually want to hear Chester try some more rapping/singing like on "Blackout", it was great. There's the "Sabotage" cover as well, which was also good. Mike singing with Chester rapping? It'd be something refreshing at least. I doubt we'll get any of that, but I'd rather hear that than more of Mike's battle rapping. Or at least give me something that leaves a lasting impression, "All for Nothing" and "Wastelands" didn't do that for me.
I want more songs like Burning in The Skies, this song is so underrated. But Mike's vocals should be less "whispered".
I'm not sure what to expect but didn't they say trap elements were suppose to be on THP? I would love to hear Mike spit something over a trap beat.
They need to release the album ASAP. Mike's pants have big holes, he needs the money, he can't afford the studio anymore.
More and more pictures of Mike and Brad with guitarzzz. We may be through that 2006 fase, where the guys thought the album would be done in a few months but it took more than a year. Right now i don't know what to expect. They seem so half-through the creative process, that i wouldn't be surprised by this album being released in may/june.
When this album drops, you're gonna understand that Linkin Park are breaking new ground by using guitars in their music. They've always been cutting-edge and they're continuing still to experiment.