10 Greatest Duets In Rock History

Nu metal was one of the few outlandish experiments in the metal genre that was just crazy enough to work. Regardless of the inherent wrongness of rap and rock mixing together, this new movement turned in some of the most groundbreaking metal of the early '00s, with Linkin Park leading the charge. Given that hip hop was such a big part of their sound, it was only a matter of time before we got a real life rap giant to come calling.

Already a student of remixes, Mike Shinoda ended up in talks with Jay-Z to mash together some of Hov's songs with the melodies of Linkin Park. Something like this would normally be considered a cheap cash in for artists, but what we got on Collision Course was a lot more groundbreaking than anyone gave it credit for.

Even though Jay-Z's straight ahead rapping style didn't sound like a good fit, his bars being spit over the verses to Numb sent both acts into the stratosphere, with the mashup winning a Grammy not too long after its initial release. It also broke down barriers for the nu metal crowd, as many fans decided to play catch up on all of the classic hip hop they had been missing out on after loving this collab. These genre clashes end up falling on their face pretty quickly, but this was the chocolate and peanut butter combination that was too good not to pass up.