When Genres Collide… In a Good Way
What do you get when you collide a Black rapper from Brooklyn, New York and 6 white dudes who came together to rock? "Collision Course;" a collaboration between self-proclaimed "Best Rapper Alive" Jay-Z, and his co-artist Linkin Park.
This mash-up album proves that seven heads are better than one when it comes to producing a likeable and universal sound with crossover appeal. The musical editing of the artists in charge of this album allows these opposing genres of rap and rock create one perfect sound.
The most well-known track and hit single "Numb/Encore," went to the top of the charts in 2004, but the remaining less-popular 5 tracks on the album surpass the standards set by the popular single and make this alum short but intense and dense in its quality of music at the same time.
In "Big Pimpin/Papercut," one of the Linkin Park members sings one of Jay-Z's vocal parts. A rocker rapping is a musical paradox that symbolizes the album concept: metaphorical harmony
In another track, "Izzo/In the End," the song begins with Jay-Z's beats alongside the vocals and lyrics of Linkin Park. More than the mash-up of the two songs into one beat with separate sounds; in "Collision Course," it's a new genre within two genres. Its sound is intense, creative, and shockingly ordered. The lyrics fit together with the beat, no matter if they are overlapping sounds from each of the artists, and the togetherness makes it one instead of two distinct sounds just playing at the same time.
The grand finale comes at the end of the album with the track "Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer." "99 Problems," is one of the noted tracks on Jay-Z's number one album, defined Jay-Z's career. To top it off, the song adds two tracks from a top-selling rock group to make it complete.
Jay-Z and Linkin Park's mash-up is such a success because of its innovative way of taking two separate genre sounds and making them into one. "Collision course" offers its wide-range audience a 6-track album that gives us the opportunity to discover something new about its sound each time you hit play, which is what makes it so special and what makes it worth listening to, and more importantly, we the audience want more.
