Crazy Town is an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret "Epic" Mazur and Shifty Shellshock. Their 2000 single "Butterfly", reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and helped their debut album, The Gift of Game (1999), sell over 1.6 million units. Their follow-up album, Darkhorse (2002), failed to achieve the same level of success, contributing to the band's breakup in 2003.
Bret Mazur (left) and Seth Binzer in 2014
Crazy Town performing live in Germany in 2000
Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is considered to be rock music in which lyrics are rapped, rather than sung. The genre achieved its greatest success in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Urban Dance Squad performing in 2006
CNN said that Beastie Boys' album Licensed to Ill "essentially invented rap-rock".
The music of Kid Rock was cited as a bridge between hip hop and rap rock.
Death Grips received acclaim for their 2011 rap rock mixtape Exmilitary.