By John Batanchiev
Imagine going to your local music store, picking up a compact disc of both of your favorite artists, then forging their hits into one album. But wait, there’s no need to imagine. Two of the hottest artists in the last five years have made an album that mixes their hits to produce a classic rap rock genre album. The linear note states it’s a defining “music history” moment, but is it?
Jay-Z went down this road within the last year, with the banned DJ Dangermouse ‘Grey Album’. If you have been living in a cave for the last year, the album used samples from The Beatles ‘White Album’ with vocals from Jay -Z’s ‘Black Album’. If you pay attention to FM radio you’d heard randomly 50 Cent mixed with Nine Inch Nails, Eminem mixed with Justin Timberlake and etc. These songs have been coined as “mash-ups.” And similar to the monster mash, it’s humiliating and scary to listen to some of them.
Die hard fans of either Jay-Z or Linkin Park, who respect the traditional rap or rock style, might reject this album for many reasons. Possibly describing ‘Collision Course’ as a sell out album or a destruction of artistic creativity.
This album is intended for the musically diverse fans. Both Jay-Z and Linkin Park have a diverse fan base, so the concept actually works. Maybe it’s not really musical history that Jay-Z and Linkin Park are pursuing, instead just cornering another market for their music.
In listening to ‘Collision Course’ under musically diverse ears, it unsurprisingly, it is filled with good songs. For the obvious reason that when two hits are put together where it makes musical sense, it’s probably going to at least be catchy. It’s not that hard of a concept since most people have heard all of the original songs on the radio or from the albums.
What is surprising and interesting about ‘Collision Course’ is the artistic element to it. Specifically, “Jigga What/Faint,” which sounds like it’s about to fall apart at any moment. Its ambience of sci-fi and mystery elements is exciting. They truly are pushing their music to go out there and hope it finds itself. The way that most of these songs work together, and the seamless ability of transfer from one sample to another is unique.
If you’re a die hard Jay-Z and/or Linkin Park fan then ‘Collision Course’ is a definite album for your diverse record collection. What the heck are you waiting for?
The Chronicle gives ´Collidion Course´, by JayZ and Linkin Park four out of five stars.