''Collision Course'' is a mash-up EP from American rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

, released on November 30, 2004, by

Roc-A-Fella Roc-A-Fella Records was an American record label and music management company founded in 1994 by record executives and entrepreneurs Jay-Z, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem Burke, Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Carter issued his debut album, ...

Machine Shop A machine shop or engineering workshop is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tool (machining), cutting tools to make parts, usua ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

. From Linkin Park's catalog, ''Collision Course'' features three songs from ''

Meteora The Meteora (; , ) is a rock formation in the regional unit of Trikala, in Thessaly, in northwestern Greece, hosting one of the most prominent complexes of Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox monastery, monasteries, viewed locally as se ...

'' and four from ''

Hybrid Theory ''Hybrid Theory'' is the debut studio album by American Rock music, rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, by Warner Bros. Records. Recorded at NRG Recording Studios, NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, North Hollywo ...

''. From Jay-Z's catalog, it features three songs from '' The Black Album'', one from '' Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter'', one from '' Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life'' and one from '' The Blueprint''. Before the album, Jay-Z had released collaborations with

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

and R. Kelly, and Linkin Park had collaborated with various artists on their remix album '' Reanimation''. The album was inspired by '' The Grey Album'' by Danger Mouse, which was a mash-up album between Jay-Z and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

had originally planned on mashing up only one or two songs, but the project was eventually expanded to a six-song album. The production on the album was mostly handled by

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

and Jay-Z, and it was recorded between July 16 and July 19. The album spawned one single, " Numb/Encore" which won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the

48th Grammy Awards The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004, through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 ...

. The album received generally mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

but despite that was a commercial success. It debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 368,000 copies in its first week.

Overview

Due to its short running time at 21:18, with six tracks in total included on the disc, the release has been identified as an EP. All of the tracks included are mashups combining songs by both artists. The DVD contains behind-the-scenes new footage of the making of the album, as well as the second take of all of the Collision Course songs at The Roxy Theatre on July 18, 2004. Also included are the five scenes from the concert shown on ''MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups'' and a picture gallery. The first single released from the EP, " Numb/Encore", achieved significant airplay on the charts, and stayed on six months after its release. "Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer" was also released to the radio in the US, but was never featured on the

Billboard Charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

– the videos for both that track and "Jigga What/Faint" were also seen on

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

in the UK. "Izzo/In the End" was also heavily promoted on the official Linkin Park websites.

Background and production

revealed in his 2004 Grammy acceptance speech that he would be mashing up with Jay-Z for a record under MTV's Mash Ups show. The network allowed Jay-Z to choose a group or artist for the mash-up. Jay contacted Shinoda, who began experimenting with mixing the tracks before sending some examples to him. As a result, Jay-Z began working with Shinoda through email. The two decided that instead of combining the existing tracks for the live performance on MTV, they wanted to re-work and re-record parts of the songs to make them fit better. Shinoda explains, "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 asked his bandmates to re-record instrumental and vocal tracks as well, and ultimately both parties decided they wanted to release the studio tracks. The entire album was put together within four days. Sometimes, behind-the-scenes audio can be heard within the album, such as Jay-Z saying "You're wasting your talent, Randy!" before "Big Pimpin'/Papercut", or Shinoda saying "This is fun" before "Izzo/In the End". ''Collision Course'' was the first album of Linkin Park that contained a Parental Advisory sticker, since most of Jay-Z's verses contain profanity (although Shinoda and

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

are also heard using vulgar language on the album). This album was also made in an edited/censored version. However, the clean version of the album left the words "bitch", "ass", and "hoes" uncensored, which means that " Izzo/ In the End" is the same on the clean and explicit versions. A year after the release of ''Collision Course'', Jay-Z was the executive producer on Mike Shinoda's solo effort Fort Minor's '' The Rising Tied''. Also, the song "High Road" from the same record talks about how some critics negatively received ''Collision Course''.

Critical reception

''Collision Course'' received generally mixed reviews from

. David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the album, calling it "awesomely fun". K.B. Tindal of ''HipHopDX'' also equally praised the album, saying that the project "will open a passageway for artists who want to dare to be different as well as those who want to work hard to maintain that difference." Steve Juon of RapReviews called the album "an experiment which bodes well since for the most part these two artists each other." Meanwhile, Raymond Fiore of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', gave a negative review of the album, saying that the pairing of Linkin Park and Jay-Z "comes off like a sanitized nonevent." At the

, the song " Numb/Encore", a mash-up of " Numb" by

and " Encore" by

, won the

Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration The Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance (awarded as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration until 2017, and Best Rap/Sung Performance from 2018 to 2020) is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and original ...

Commercial performance

''Collision Course'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 368,000 copies in its first week, according to

Nielsen Soundscan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

. This became Jay-Z eighth US number one album and Linkin Park's second. It also became the second EP ever to top the chart, preceded by

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

' '' Jar of Flies'' in 1994. In its second week, the EP dropped to number nine on the chart, selling an additional 186,000 copies. In its third week, the EP dropped to number ten on the chart, selling 236,000 more copies. In its fourth week, the EP climbed to number eight on the chart, selling 283,000 more copies. As of August 2009, the EP has sold 1,934,000 copies in the US. On August 15, 2017, the EP was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for combined sales and

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s of over two million units in the United States.

Track listing

Enhanced content on CD

#"Links to Bonus Content" #"Photos"

DVD track listing

#Intro #In the Studio #Jay-Z Arrives #Rehearsal #Sound Check #Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying from You (Live) #Big Pimpin'/Papercut (Live) #Jigga What/Faint (Live) #Numb/Encore (Live) #Izzo/In the End (Live) #Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer (Live) #End Credits

Special Features

#"MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups" #*It's Goin' Down #*Dirt Off You Shoulder/Lying from You #*Jigga What/Faint #*Numb/Encore #*Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer #"Photo Gallery" #"5.1 Surround Sound"

Personnel

Linkin Park *

– vocals ("Dirt off Your Shoulder / Lying from You", "Jigga What / Faint", & "Points of Authority / 99 Problems / One Step Closer"), backing vocals ("Big Pimpin' / Papercut" & "Izzo / In the End"), lead vocals ("Numb / Encore") *

Rob Bourdon Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician, best known as a co-founding member and the former drummer of the rock band Linkin Park. He remained in the band until their hiatus in 2017; when the band members began work ...

– drums * Brad Delson – guitar * Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass guitar *

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director, and visual artist best known as the DJ and creative director of the rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all eight of ...

–

turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, sampling, programming *

– vocals ("Dirt off Your Shoulder / Lying from You", "Jigga What / Faint", & "Numb / Encore"), lead vocals ("Big Pimpin' / Papercut", "Izzo / In the End", & "Points of Authority / 99 Problems / One Step Closer"), additional guitar ("Jigga What / Faint"), keyboard, piano (4)

* Shawn Carter – lead vocals Production * Produced and mixed by Mike Shinoda * Arranged by Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda * Engineered by Mike Shinoda, John Ewing and Mark Kiczula * Mastered by Brain "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering * Executive producers: Shawn Carter and Linkin Park * A&R: Tom Whalley * A&R coordination for Warner Bros. Records: Marny Cameron * Marketing director: Peter Standish * A&R coordinator: Michael "Stick" Stefrin * Production coordinator: Ryan DeMarti * Sample clearance: Eric Weissman for Sample Clearance Limited * Executive producers: Rob McDermott and John Meneilly * Creative direction for Warner Bros. Records: Ellen Wakayama * Project art direction: THE FLEM and Mike Shinoda * Cover art direction and design: THE FLEM * Cover and all interior line art illustrations: David Choe * Digipak and booklet art direction and design: Lawrence Azerrad for LAD * Photography: Greg Watermann

DVD

* Director: Kimo Proudfoot * Producer: Matt Caltabiano * Editor: Kevin McCullough * Live audio engineer: Guy Charbonneau * Live audio mix: Mike Shinoda * Executive producer: Janet Haase * Head of production: Joby Barnhart * Post production supervisor: Jason Cohon * For Sunset Editorial: Nazeli Kodjoian, Sin Halina Sy * Additional footage produced by Lenny Santiago * 5.1 mixed of Roxy Performance * DVD post producer: David May * Associate producer: Raena Winscott * Menu design: Sean Donelly * 5.1 mix producer: David May * 5.1 mix engineer: Ted Hall * Assistant engineer: Bruce Balestier * Audio mix: Mix Magic * Colorist: Dave Hussey * Title graphics: Carlos * Authoring: Cinram * Live performance filmed July 18, 2004 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA * Original concept by Michele Megan Dix and Jesse Ignjatovic

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collision Course (Album) Albums produced by Mike Shinoda Linkin Park EPs Jay-Z EPs Linkin Park video albums Mashup albums 2004 collaborative albums 2004 EPs Remix EPs Def Jam Recordings EPs Def Jam Recordings remix albums Def Jam Recordings video albums Roc-A-Fella Records video albums Roc-A-Fella Records EPs Roc-A-Fella Records remix albums Warner Records remix albums Warner Records video albums Warner Records EPs 2004 video albums Rap rock albums by American artists Albums produced by Jay-Z