June 21, 2003 @ 9:00 pm

Linkin Park - Reanimation (Warner Bros.)

Delany Biko

It’s a fact: Linkin Park has more selling power now than P. Diddy and Jay-Z combined.

It’s a fact: Linkin Park has more selling power now than P. Diddy and Jay-Z combined. But instead of inviting megastars to collaborate on their hip hop–spiked projects, Linkin Park recruits underground heroes. In 2001, they gave the X-ecutioners a career boost by guesting on their album Built From Scratch. And on this collection of new material and remakes of cuts from their Grammy-winning, eight-time platinum debut, Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park shares the spotlight with lesser-known luminaries like Aceyalone and Planet Asia. Their hired guns are a talented bunch, but Linkin Park more than holds its own. On the bass-heavy “H! Vltg3,” featuring Pharoahe Monch, Linkin’s Mike Shinoda is surprisingly on par with one of rap’s most articulate MCs. The bulk of the production here comes from hip hop beatsmiths like Alchemist, Kutmasta Kurt, and Dilated Peoples’ Evidence, and the album rarely strays from rap-rock formula. Still, Reanimation’s cross-pollination of high-level lyricism, trunk-rattling beats, heavy-metal riffs, and hard-core vocals makes for a rousing listening experience.

Article tags: Linkin, Park, Reanimation, Warner, Bros 

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