In Linkin Park's second side album between their cd's, like Reanimation was between Hybrid Theory and Meteora, once again a great success. Reanimation is also an excellent hip-hop blended album for Linkin Park and if you don't own that, I advise you to pick it up. Anyways, onto this review. 

Linkin Park is the biggest and most influencial rock band of the new millenium, and Jay-Z (even though he's retired) is one of the most popular hip-hop artists too. Even though I am not a big hip-hop fan, Linkin Park already features a lot of hip-hop vocals. The reason Linkin Park's hip-hop vocals work to me, are because of the guitar riffs behind them. Each and every song catches a new beat and adds new style to great lyrics. Even though Jay-Z is a different kind of rap then Linkin Park, the music still meshes very well. 

#1 - Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying from You ... Now first off I'd have to say that originally I hated Dirt Off Your Shoulder. With the additions of the guitar riffs behind Jay-Z voice and the addition of Mike Shinoda to the hip-hop vocals, I changed my mind. This is my favorite song on the cd and to rate with the numbers system 5/5. 

#2 - Big Pimpin'/Papercut ... definately the bust on the cd. Papercut in itself was a good song. Big Pimpin' in itself was a good song. The mix between the two, uh-no. The slow-down of Papercut's lyrics with the Big Pimpin' music behind it, a little rough and not much edge to the sound. I recommend to pass on this song. 1/5... and that's a compliment. 

#3 - Jigga What/Faint ... excellent! Jay-Z rapping over the Faint music sounds incredible. The fast-paced song picks up even more with Jay-Z and his fast mouthed lyrics. When Linkin Park comes back in with their own part to Faint, it matches up to it's original quality. Great song 4.5/5 

#4 - Numb/Encore ... the most family oriented song on the cd. A good mix of Jay-Z and Chester Bennington in this song. Chester's additional lyrics of "What the hell are you waiting for" throughout Jay-Z Encore lyrics sounds quite soothing. A great concert song, and a very good song on this cd. Once again ... 4.5/5 

#5 - Izzo/In the End ... another suprisingly good song. Izzo by Jay-Z is one of my least favorite songs. The mix between the two however sounds great. In the End is of course Linkin Park's most famous song. Mike's mix and match with Jay-Z once again flows very nicely with the music and it's a good listening song. It doesn't quite match up with a few of the others though but still good ... 4/5. 

#6 - Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer ... very close to the greatness of Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You. The mix of these three songs in absolutely insane. The beginning with Jay-Z rapping over Points of Authority sounds like how it should have originally been. Then after Points ends, Brad Delson kicks in the guitar from One Step Closer and Jay-Z continues to sing throughout One Step Closer mixing in with Chester and Mike. The police scene in 99 Problems with Jay-Z and Mike is my favorite part of this cd. Great song 5/5. 

The DVD includes the MTV Mash-Up performance which I thought included great energy and sounded great also. It's another good addition along with the cd, and except for the short length I would give the dvd a 5/5. 

Overall I would give the CD/DVD combo a 4.75/5 ... I know it's a weird number, but it's not perfect, but it's very very close! Incredible how great the mash-up really sounds between two total different ends of the spectrum of music. I recommend this for another hip/hop or rock fan. 

by Airic Xero "EZLP @ BG"

TRACKLIST:

01 - Dirt Off Your Shoulder-Lying From You.wma              
02 - Big Pimpin'-Papercut.wma                               
03 - Jigga What-Faint.wma                                   
04 - Numb-Encore.wma                                        
05 - IZZO-In The End.wma                                    
06 - Points Of Authority-99 Problems-One Step Closer.wma    

WMA 320Kbps 44100Hz STEREO

Follow me On Facebook Pages: MarcelodrgzTPB