Songfacts®:

• Fort Minor is a hip-hop side project for Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda. This stand-alone single was their first release since the group went on hiatus in 2006.
• "Welcome" is an underdog song. Shinoda explained the single's background during an interview with Artist Direct: "At the time, I was a little frustrated," he explained. "It's clearly an outsider song, feeling like I didn't belong or whatever. I think back to what was going on. The band was at a point where not a lot was happening, which is relative, because everything is always crazy with the band. We were sort of in-between projects, and I don't know exactly what the time period was. I was reflecting on how I ended up where I'm at. The more I looked at it, the more I felt like, 'Being an outsider doesn't necessarily mean that you have to feel bad about it.' There's a sense of coming to terms with it on my own in the song."
  
  "It's funny because it was organic and fluid," Shinoda added. "It all popped out at once. That's unusual for me. The song was done before I even knew it. I listened to it and went, 'Oh my God, this is not a Linkin Park song.'"