Well, he was not afraid to take the rise out of himself... Some of his songs were indeed hilarious. Mockingbird, Toy Soldiers, Lose Yourself... all modern rap anthems. Also nice use of sampling from Martika, bringing in a new audience.
Linkin Park are not ULTIMATE HARDCORE, no do they or their fans purport them to be. They just have a few enjoyable songs. I like bands without feeling they epitomize the genre, just if I enjoy a track I can give them credit where I think it's due. Breaking the Habit, Crawling, Numb(with Jay Z...), Shadow of the Day, Faint, In The End (remix). Melodramatic lyrics; laughable at times, but good tracks all the same to me.