Remembering Jay-Z and Linkin Park's Genre-Bending 'Collision Course'

Mixing hip-hop and rock has been nothing new, at least ever since Run-DMC took a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" into the Top 10 in 1986. But it's hard to imagine a more creative - and more rewarding - genre tag-team than Jay-Z and Linkin Park's iconic Collision Course, which made its way to record stores on Nov. 30, 2004.

Over six tracks across 20 minutes, the lyrics of Jay-Z (arguably the biggest rapper on the planet at the time, and planning a retirement from music) met the rhythms and hooks of Linkin Park (who'd been effortlessly blending alt-rock and hip-hop together since their breakthrough Hybrid Theory four years earlier). Hov and LP's resident emcee Mike Shinoda first came together when Jay was approached for an MTV mash-ups special. Mash-ups were all the rage at the time, reaching a fever pitch when producer Danger Mouse took verses from Jay-Z's The Black Album and The Beatles' self-titled "White Album" to create - you guessed it - the underground masterpiece The Grey Album.

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Over four days, Jay-Z and Linkin Park worked together diligently in the studio, mixing their existing songs with new recordings and vocal takes of the originals to make a set that perfectly fit with each other. Linkin Park's Meteora stand-out "Numb" meshed with The Black Album's "Encore." Hov's "Izzo" linked with Hybrid Theory hit "In the End." And Jay-Z's "99 Problems" - already a rap-rock favorite thanks to Rick Rubin's original, thrashing production - fused with both Linkin Park's "Points of Authority" and breakthrough debut single "One Step Closer."

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"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 told MTV about the project. "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."

While critics were divided on the effectiveness of the team-up, fans of both artists were blown away. Collision Course immediately topped the Billboard 200, and "Numb/Encore" peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 - only nine spots lower than the original "Numb" did. The track won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (a performance by the duo was joined by a surprise guest appearance from Paul McCartney) and Jay-Z would join the group again to perform the mix at the Live 8 benefit concert in Philadelphia. Hov would also perform the track on his 4:44 track as a tribute to Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, who died in 2017.