In the fall of 2004, a six-track mash-up EP called Collision Course dropped on an unsuspecting public. Made for the MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups concert show, it featured remixes of Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s biggest tracks combined with surgical precision. But they weren’t made by simply playing around with the existing tracks. Linkin Park and Jay-Z actually went into the studio and created all-new mixes.
The initial idea came from The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, which dropped in February 2004. This mash-up of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and The Beatles’ self-titled record (The White Album) influenced the commercial release of unusual mash-ups. However, this practice was already somewhat common, including for Mike Shinoda. Before Linkin Park formed, he was into creating mixes of The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails with tracks from Jay-Z’s debut, Reasonable Doubt.
MTV gave Jay-Z the power to choose who he wanted to collaborate with on the mash-up project, and he reached out to Linkin Park. Shinoda created three of his own mash-ups from The Black Album and sent them back to Jay-Z.
“I didn’t just want to say, ‘Hell, yeah, let’s do it’ — I wanted to show him what it might sound like if we did it,” Shinoda told MTV News in 2004. Jay-Z was thrilled, and the two worked out the details over email. When they finally got everyone together in the studio, they decided to re-record vocals over Shinoda’s already-deconstructed songs.
Linkin Park and Jay-Z Didn’t Cut Corners on Mash-Up EP
“Jay and I realized it’s better to re-perform the rap vocals if you’re gonna do it to a new beat because the vibe changes and you have to deliver your verse a little differently,” Shinoda recalled at the time. “There was no ego at all working with Jay. If I asked him to perform something a certain way or put a vocal line here or there, he was happy to do it. He’s really easy to work with.”
The resulting six tracks combined seven songs from Linkin Park’s Meteora and Hybrid Theory albums with six from Jay-Z’s The Black Album, Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter, Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life, and The Blueprint.
Initially, Collision Course wasn’t going to be released. Its sole purpose was for the MTV mash-up concert series, and was recorded as a DVD at the Roxy Theatre. But Shinoda recalled that the band and Jay-Z were so excited about the project that they decided to release it.
“I think the songs are really strong, and it was totally exciting recording them,” said Shinoda. “You can hear it on the tracks. There’s laughing going on and people telling jokes. We kept all those little things in there, so I think it’s something our fans would really enjoy.”
The only single, “Numb/Encore,” went on to reach No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. It didn’t reach the airplay scale of “Numb” itself, but the entire EP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “Numb/Encore” also won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2006. In 2024, it became the third song for both Linkin Park and Jay-Z to pass one billion streams on Spotify. Despite mixed critical reviews, Collision Course is still an interesting moment in cross-genre music history.
Photo by KMazur/WireImage
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