Shifty Shellshock, singer of “Butterfly” from Crazy Town, dies at 49

Seth Brooks Binzer aka Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town, February 2001 (Markus Cuff/Corbis via Getty Images)

Shifty Shellshock, co-founder and co-singer of the Los Angeles rap-rock band Crazy Town, has died. diversity reports, citing public information on the website of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The musician died of an accidental drug overdose, said his representative Howie Hubberman Rolling Stone. Shifty Shellshock. was 49 years old.

Shifty Shellshock was born Seth Brooks Binzer to former model Leslie Brooks and director and producer Rollin Binzer, who directed the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones.

Seth Binzer met his future co-founder and co-singer of Crazy Town, Bret Hadley “Epic” Mazur, in the early 1990s and the group released their first studio album, The gift of the gamein November 1999 on Columbia. The LP featured “Butterfly,” a song that sampled the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ instrumental “Pretty Little Ditty” and became a hit in its own right, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Crazy Town could not repeat the success of “Butterfly”, but their second album, released in 2002, Dark Horseincluded the relatively popular “Drowning” and a song featuring Rivers Cuomo of Weezer called “Hurt You So Bad”.

Crazy Town took a break after Dark Horseand Shifty Shellshock released his only solo album, Happy Love Sickin July 2004. The album contained the rapper’s most successful song outside of the group, a collaboration with English DJ and producer Paul Oakenfold entitled “Starry Eyed Surprise”.

Shifty Shellshock and Epic Mazur have reunited for another Crazy Town album, The Brimstone Sluggersin August 2015. Mazur left the group in 2017 and Shifty Shellshock renamed the band Crazy Town X.

Besides Crazy Town, Shifty Shellshock also appeared in the films Clifford (1994) and Dead 7 (2016). He has also been public about his struggle with substance abuse and has appeared on several seasons of VH1’s reality shows. Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew And Celebrity Rehab presents Sober House.

If you or someone you know is suffering from substance use disorder, we encourage you to contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help

Originally published on Pitchfork