Linkin Park's hit Collision Course collaborative EP with Jay-Z was released Nov. 30, 2004 — 20 years ago Saturday.
While the nu metal scene of the late '90s and early 2000s had already been bringing the worlds of rock and hip-hop together, Collision Course made the crossover explicit by teaming perhaps the era's biggest names in their respective genres.
Collision Course features six mash-ups of different Linkin Park and Jay-Z tracks, the most successful of which was "Numb/Encore." The set debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and is certified double-Platinum by the RIAA.
Even with its success, Collision Course proved to be the end of Linkin Park's nu metal era, which also included the hit albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Their next record after Collision Course, 2007's Minutes to Midnight, saw LP change up their sound with different musical influences, which they would continue to do throughout their career.
Still, Linkin Park's connection to Jay-Z lives on. Following frontman Chester Bennington's death in 2017, the rap star paid tribute to him with performances of "Numb/Encore."
Linkin Park released their first album since Bennington's death, called From Zero, on Nov. 15. It features new vocalist Emily Armstrong.