When I first heard about this collaboration it sounded too good to be true, after all the fuss of last years "Grey Album," and the multitude of rainbow based copy cats, finally Jigga was going to deliver the definite mash-up album, with one of the better singles bands to come from the States in the last few years providing the sonic boom. However that is the exact reason why this marriage fails. It’s a marriage of convenience. And the MTV blessing is akin to a matchmaker who all through the ceremony is looking at the presents and sizing up its cut.

Don’t get me wrong, the whole Mash-Up concept has brought a nice breath of fresh air to the dance music genre, however it was always an underground thing, something a bit naughty, illegal and stuck two-fingers up to the establishment. Think Christina versus The Strokes, Pink versus The Vines, Destiny’s Child and 10cc. These were raw, edgy and packed a punch, Collision Course is merely interesting the same way you look at a car crash.

The accompanying DVD to this release would give the viewer the impression that the whole project was forged from a week long lock-in in a subterranean studio until the Mash-Up had been reinvented. On the contrary the whole thing sounds as if it was put together for less then $50 on a basic Soundforge package. Jay’s rhymes are no different to the original release and the remixed LP tracks are no different to the Hybrid Theory remix album, Reanimation, which came out in 2001.

So where do the main characters go from here? Well Linkin Park will continue to try, and most likely fail, to become friends with Hip-Hop (classic DVD moment: Chester attempts to "bond" with Jay). Jay-Z will continue to tease the world with the hope of new material until he finally comes out of retirement. And as for the Mash-Up concept? Well that died the death the minute a be-suited MTV executive thought to himself "Hey that Strokes/Christina thing could really shift some units." Collision Course? With any luck it’ll be his car and a wall.

5/10

Standout Tracks: 99 Problems/One Step Closer, IZZO/Papercut

David Macnamara