The Daily Spin II

Jay Z, Linkin Park | Collision Course

Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.

As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.

Album: Collision Course (2004)

Artist: Jay-Z, Linkin Park

Link:

Perhaps the crossover of the early 2000s, at least for me, Numb/Encore took the best parts of alt rock and nu metal and fused them with the powerhouse flows and beats that Hov has become titanic in the industry for.

It’s still absolutely obscene - this, by all accounts, should not work this well. Linkin Park had a history of tapping into hip-hop and rap flows, and it wasn’t really that big a surprise when Mike Shinoda put on the mask as side alias Fort Minor, but man. Man.

The obvious titan here is ‘Numb/Encore’, a raucous encore designed to set the world on fire and smile while doing so. Every single track has its moments, but few shine in totality the way this one does, full of insane passes like you’re watching Stockton dish it out.

Almost as impressive is how much of this record is done without needing to get aggressive towards other folks - sure, there are moments where Jay in particular takes a moment to point a miscellaneous finger or five, but outside of quips, a lot of this is just two artists who are near the peak of their respective genres getting together and cooking.

Rating: 8/10

Best Tracks: Numb/Encore

Worst Tracks: Jigga What/Faint