A mash-up between Jay-Z’s “Encore“ and Linkin Park’s “Numb“ from the MTV Ma… Read Full Bio ↴A mash-up between Jay-Z’s “Encore“ and Linkin Park’s “Numb“ from the MTV Mash Ups show. They both enjoyed it so much that they released a full EP of 6 songs, of which this was the most successful.

At that point in time, back in 2004, Jay-Z had just ‘retired’ and was reflecting on how he changed the game and how much he would be missed. Linkin Park’s verses take the opposite perspective, reflecting on how sometimes you’re not good enough and can’t make everyone happy.

"The bottom line was we wanted to perform a show together, so [you might ask] why we would spend all that time in the studio. It’s because when you hear a song in its studio form and you’ve got a good-quality copy of the song, then you know how it should sound when you go play it live. If you just go jam it out, you might never know the potential of the quality you’re trying to achieve."

– Mike Shinoda, MTV News

“Numb / Encore” was certified 3x platinum by the RIAA on December 13, 2017.