It may be true that Linkin Park is less than convincing than J-Hova on “Big Pimpin’/Papercut,” but there’s no evidence of “I” on this team. Both artists have spent a little time in the other camp on various parts of their records, but it’s the collaboration that makes this album a winner. “Numb/Encore” and “Izzo/In the End” are near-perfect plays of seamless sonic moves and mic assists from heavy metal to hip-hop and back. This is recess in the supergroup sandbox, and the boys shared their toys. Each brought a short list of their best songs to the field and walked away with a six-song trophy. What started off as an exercise at “mashing” a Linkin Park track with a Jay-Z track turned into a fantastic pickup game between two artists at the top of their worlds. The right answer is that this CD/DVD set is quite possibly one of the best cross-genre pairings of its kind.
The wrong answer is that it’s Jay-Z with a loud band or a back-and-forth of covers where one rearranges the other.
The first question everyone asks about Collision Course is “Is this album more Jay-Z or Linkin Park?”
