Los Angeles-based rap-rock band Crazy Town is our pick for the first out-of-nowhere hit rock sensation of 2001.
This week, their new song "Butterfly" is #8 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, but the explosion in Crazy Town queries is a good indication you may be hearing the band on Top 40 radio shortly.
Searches for Crazy Town have gone up about 60% each week for the last three weeks. Last week the band got as many searches as Guns N' Roses or the Wu-Tang Clan.
Crazy Town's debut album, The Gift of Game, came out November 9 of last year, and the first single "Toxic" was a hard-edged rock song that didn't do much on the charts. But "Butterfly" is a more pop-oriented love song that should see a lot of crossover success. It sounds a bit like Sugar Ray's "Fly" crossed with Limp Bizkit's "Take a Look Around."
According to rapper Epic Mazur, "we're some hip-hop kids that needed to rock, rather than some rock kids that needed to rap." Mazur's rapping partner, Shifty Shellshock, claims to be "like Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain and Biggie Smalls all trapped in one body." His life insurance premiums must be gargantuan.
The band has some interesting musical roots. Mazur has worked with hip-hop artists as diverse as MC Serch and Black Eyed Peas. DJ AM worked on Papa Roach's album Infest. Drummer James Bradley Jr. was a member of early-90's alterna-funksters Mary's Danish.
If you are interested in hearing Crazy Town, check out some downloads on Lycos Music.
