With the urban squalor of South Central just minutes away
from the glamour and glitz of Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles
metropolitan area is easily one of the most dynamic and volatile
socio-cultural environments on the planet. Therefore, it really
should come as no surprise that this location would produce
some of the most explosive amd stylistically synergistic music
of the modern era.
Crazy Town, a seven-man band based in the City of Angels,
redirects the course of modern music with The Gift of Game,
their debut album on Columbia Records. Spearheaded by
lyricists/vocalists/producers Shifty Shellshock and Epic Mazur,
who've been key behind-the-scenes players on the L.A. rap
scene for the past eight years, Crazy Town masterfully combines
hip-hop's lyrical attitude and rhythmic sass with the sonic
musculature of live rock instrumentation.

It was my calling in life, Shifty says of forming Crazy Town.
I grew up listening to hip-hop and punk rock. Crazy Town
is like an X-rated Dennis The Menace. We wanted to paint
a picture of what's going on with kids today. I wanted to
incorporate rap and rock like it had never been done before.
No matter what kind of music you liked, I wanted you to
enjoy something about it.

I don't know what you would classify our music as, Epic
adds. Sometimes you may think it's purely rock, sometimes
just hip-hop. But listening to the whole album, we're expressing
whatever kind of music through a hip-hop mentality. We're
some hip-hop kids that needed to rock, rather than some rock
kids that needed to rap. Produced by close friend Josh
Abraham
(Orgy, Coal Chamber) and Epic The Gift of Game
features audio H-bombs like Little Black Cloud -- with Jay
Gordon from scene mates Orgy -- and Dark Side. The latter
was the last song recorded for the album, yet it masterfully
states the musical alchemy that is Crazy Town. An aggressive
tune delivered by pulsing guitars, boasting snarling vocals,
Dark Side contains both the twisted musical and lyrical punch
that is the group's signature.

The beat is banging and by the time it gets to the chorus,
you don't notice the change, Epic says. All of the sudden
your head is banging up against the fucking wall. Everybody
has their dark side, Shifty chimes in regarding the sinister twist
of the lyrics, whether they wantto admit it or not.

Then there's the first single Toxic, a fittingly abrasive tune,
effectively the Crazy Town theme song summing up the
organized confusion of the band's aural assault. 'Toxic' describes
Crazy Town because our sound is toxic, Shifty relates. It gets
inside of you and its radioactive. We're loud and obnoxious.

Butterfly is an ode to the one special woman every man
hopes to have by his side someday, while Revolving Door is
about getting down with as many honeys as you can in the
meantime while you're still looking for Ms. Right.

Crazy Town's lyrics recount the temptations and the trials people
go through during life. The group analyzes the choices each one
of us faces every day and the twists of fate these decisions
precipitate that lead us either to success or failure. Do what you
want to do, Epic says. Go out with that girl, do that drug, go to
that place. Just realize that you're going to have to deal with the
aftermath. Crazy Town has been known to chew people up and
spit them out. If you don't know how to navigate yourself through
it, you will die. Helping put across the Crazy Town message on
The Gift of Game are special guests hip hop prophet KRS-One ,
dancehall toastmaster extraordinaire Mad Lion and Dirty Unit

( Think Fast ). A friend of the group had dropped by while they
were recording, liked what he heard and immediately called up
Lion, holding up his cell phone so the Mad one could hear what
was going on in the studio. Quickly, the latter offered his services
as toaster on Hollywood Babylon. When he finished the track,
he took a tape home and played it for KRS-One who was suitably
impressed and in turn volunteered his services as well for
B-Boy 2000. This was a dream come true for Shifty and Epic
as dyed-in-the-wool hip hop heads!

Shifty and Epic grew up listening to N.W.A, Cypress Hill and
Ice-T as well as alternative rock bands like The Cure in Southern
California. Shifty
(who claims to be like Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain
and Biggie Smalls all trapped in one body ) routinely skipped out
on his various music lessons, but when he came across a copy of
the Beastie Boy's Licensed To Ill while in Mexico, he saw a fresh
side of hip-hop that proved inspirational and he began making
demo recordings on his own.

Meanwhile, Epic, whose family is originally from New York went
to high school in Cali with Ice Cube, Divine Styler, Everlast and
House of Pain's Danny Boy. He started making beats and cutting
tracks early on, and wound up providing music for MC Serch of
3rd Bass' solo record.

It wasn't until Shifty and Epic hooked up that they either felt they
could really pursue careers as professional musicians. Initially coming
together as the Brimstone Sluggers about six years ago, the pair
recorded plenty of music, but never completed a full album of their
own because they kept getting involved contributing to with other hip
hoppers' projects i.e. Divine Styler and what would later become
Black Eyed Peas.

Finally, Shifty and Epic decided that all of their respective outside
ventures would cease and they would concentrate on their own
special vision: a hip hop band featuring a full instrumental line-up
to complement their rapping group. Recruiting Faydoedeelay

(bass), Rust Epique
(guitar), Trouble Valli
(guitar), DJ AM

(turntables) and JBJ
(drums), Crazy Town was born with roots
in classic rap-rock miscegenation ike Run DMC's Rock Box,
Public Enemy and Anthrax's collaborative Bring Tha Noize, etc.

Our parents listened to rock and we grew up listening to hip-hop,
Shifty says. We're part of a new generation of kids who really
have an appreciation for all kinds of music and they're all being
pushed together. Yeah, into one Crazy Town.