Jay-Z

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Jay-Z's collaboration with Linkin Park on Collision Course began when MTV allowed Jay-Z to choose a group or artist for their Mash Ups show. Jay contacted Mike 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." The entire album was put together within four days. 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". 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.

In Their Own Story

In July 2004, Jay-Z and Linkin Park entered the studio for four days of intense recording between July 16 and July 19. The project had originally been planned by MTV as just one or two songs, but was expanded to a six-song album. Jay-Z and Mike Shinoda handled most of the production, re-performing rap vocals to new beats rather than simply layering existing tracks. The result was a mash-up EP that combined songs from Jay-Z's catalog including The Black Album, Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter, Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life, and The Blueprint with Linkin Park's Meteora and Hybrid Theory. The first single, "Numb/Encore", won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 48th Grammy Awards. The EP debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 368,000 copies in its first week, becoming Jay-Z's eighth US number one album.

Reader's Guide

Jay-Z appears on Collision Course as a featured collaborator, not as a member of Linkin Park. The EP features six mashup tracks combining songs by both artists. From Jay-Z's catalog, the EP draws 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. The production was mostly handled by Mike Shinoda and Jay-Z. The single "Numb/Encore" won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 48th Grammy Awards. The EP debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 368,000 copies in its first week. 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 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A year after the release, Jay-Z served as executive producer on Mike Shinoda's solo effort Fort Minor's The Rising Tied.

Did You Know?

• Collision Course was inspired by The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, which was a mash-up album between Jay-Z and The Beatles.
• The entire album was put together within four days, recorded between July 16 and July 19, 2004.
• Behind-the-scenes audio on the album includes Jay-Z saying 'You're wasting your talent, Randy!' before 'Big Pimpin'/Papercut'.
• Collision Course was the first album of Linkin Park that contained a Parental Advisory sticker.
• A year after Collision Course, Jay-Z was the executive producer on Mike Shinoda's solo effort Fort Minor's The Rising Tied.