Music / Three 6 Mafia

Three 6 Mafia (formerly Triple Six Mafia, and before that Backyard Posse) is a rap group originating from Memphis, Tennessee. Formed in 1991 by DJ Paul, Lord Infamous The Scarecrow, and Juicy J, they shortly thereafter recruited fellow Memphian rappers Koopsta Knicca, Gangsta Boo, and Crunchy Black. The group also frequently collaborated with Project Pat, the brother of Juicy J.

Starting out in the underground rap scene, the group released their debut album Mystic Stylez in 1995 through Prophet Entertainment, a record label they created but have since relinquished control over. (They would later found a second label, Hypnotize Minds, in 1997; it has been assumed defunct since 2012.) Their musical styles, initially featured dark, menacing, bass-driven synth beats with equally gritty horror-themed lyrics, but have since moved to a more mainstream sound. The group also had numerous lineup changes; by the end of their initial run, they only consisted of DJ Paul and Juicy J.

The constant lineup changes and relatively drastic change in style rubbed some fans the wrong way. When four of the six members left, they took small portions of the fanbase with them, to say nothing of the artists who left Hypnotize Minds around this time, which caused even more division. Among the reasons DJ Paul and Juicy J have managed to keep the remaining parts of their fanbase around, some credit the fact that their beatmaking is, for the most part, still as sharp as it was with the original lineup, as that was one of the group's major draws. Nonetheless, they have cultivated a sizable and diverse cult following.

In 2013, they regrouped under a new name — Da Mafia 6ix — minus Juicy J (apparently due to legal issues with the old name and Juicy's contract). Unfortunately, Lord Infamous passed away on December 20 of that year of a heart attack, making a full reunion impossible. Gangsta Boo quit the group again over the summer of 2014, and Koopsta passed away due to a brain aneurysm the following year on October 9. Gangsta Boo passed away on January 1, 2023 due to an accidental drug overdose.

In early 2020, the living members of the group reunited once again for live performances.

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Discography

• 1994: Smoked Out, Loced Out
• 1995: Mystic Stylez
• 1995: Live by Yo Rep
• 1996: Chapter 1: The End
• 1997: Chapter 2: World Domination
• 2000: When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1
• 2003: Da Unbreakables
• 2005: Most Known Unknown
• 2008: Last 2 Walk
• 2010: Laws of Power (Unreleased)
• 2013: 6ix Commandments (As Da Mafia 6ix)
• 2014: Hear Sum Evil^note more or less a mixtape (As Da Mafia 6ix)
• 2015: Watch What U Wish...(As Da Mafia 6ix)

Compilations

• 1999: Underground Vol. 1: (1991-1994)
• 1999: Underground Vol. 2: Club Memphis
• 2000: Underground Vol. 3: Kings of Memphis
• 2001: Choices: The Album
• 2005: Choices II: The Setup
• 2005: Most Known Hits
• 2006: Smoked Out Music Greatest Hits
• 2007: Prophet's Greatest Hits

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They provide examples of:

• As Himself:
  • They appeared as themselves in the fourth season of NUMB3RS episode "Pay to Play".
• Changed for the Video: "Late Nite Tip" features more synths and strings in the video version.

• Crunk: The true pioneers for this style.
  • Also for Trap Music.
• The Commandments: "Da 6ix Commandments," the title of the first studio mixtape by Da Mafia 6ix.
• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Mostly played straight (especially in the later material), although deconstructed in the earlier material, which featured themes of paranoia and isolation.
• Death of a Child: Mentioned in their lyrics. Especially by Lord Infamous who seems disturbingly prone to this.
• Dirty Rap: Their lyrics are very pornographic, and misogynistic, even Gangsta Boo whom also doubles as Ms. Fanservice.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Koopsta's voice sounds creepy as hell, his raspy voice is spine chilling. A style he combines with a sometimes melodic sung delivery. He also raps in a normal vocal delivery though, usually going through all three styles in one verse. The group also sometimes manipulate their vocals through recording equipment.
• For the Evulz: All their lyrics up until recently.
• Gangsta Rap: Taken to a disgusting, horrifying extreme
• Gorn: They have a song called Body Parts for crying out loud!
  • The music video for the ''6ix Commandments" version of "Break Da Law" has actual footage of people being shot, beaten, and beheaded. It's amazing that it never got taken down by youtube. Watch at your own risk Here.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: DJ Paul and Juicy J, full stop.
• Horrorcore: Their earlier material..
• In Name Only: Fans think the group more or less disbanded, and think the duo should change their name to something else. As they don't resemble the old group anymore.
  • Not to mention that two people isn't much of a Mafia.
  • The original members reunited (minus Juicy J) under the name "Da Mafia 6ix", due to legal reasons with Sony.
• Large Ham: Juicy J in person.
  SHUTTHEFUCKUP!
• Lighter and Softer: Jarringly so... even from an objective point of view.
• Letters 2 Numbers: "Last 2 Walk" for the albums.
  • "Are U Ready 4 Us", "N 2 Deep", "Walk Up 2 Yo House" and "Side 2 Side" for the individual songs.
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Back Against Da Wall."
• Never Accepted in His Hometown: The group has never had the best reputation within Memphis, with accusations of copying the beats and flows of their predecessors aplenty. DJ Paul's business practices haven't helped much.
• Ms. Fanservice: Gangsta Boo, not just physically, although she is extremely attractive, but also lyrically. Her lyrics are very pornographic, even violently masochistic.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Scarecrow.
• Number of the Beast: Their original name was Triple 6 Mafia. Of course they say it has nothing to do with Satanism… make of that what you will.

• Ode to Intoxication: "Sippin on Some Sizzurp" and "Stay Fly" are the most famous of the bunch.
  • On the other hand, "Now I'm Hi" is a darker sounding variant.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Some of their production had shades of this, giving the music a eerie sound. Even if the lyrics was simply about sex or drug use.
• Race Fetish: Gangsta Boo REALLY likes white men.
• Rags to Riches
• Red Baron: Killaman for DJ Paul, Juiceman for Juicy J and Scarecrow for Lord Infamous.
• Religion of Evil: According to some Moral Guardians. They brought it on themselves, though, with their Satanic lyrical content, with at least one song questioning God, and their name subtly looking like 666mafia. They of course deny this.
  • Kinda Zig-Zagged: For example with Koopsta who says he fully embraced the occult, and studied dark arts, and read books on warlocks. Turning his back on god cause of his terrible upbringing discussed here in his documentary at the 9:42 mark. Then there's Gangsta Boo who have somewhat subtle bitter atheistic opinions. So at least these two play it straight, apart from the other members who claim otherwise.
• The Rival: To Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, unbeknownst to Bone apparently.
• Sampling: Numerous times; taken up to eleven with the fact that they often sampled themselves.
  • It wasn't unusual for them to reuse the same sample multiple times, or to sample the same song at different timestamps and elements. Just ask DJ Zirk and his underground hit "2 Thick".
  • Juicy J famously sampled Linkin Park on two tracks: "Smoke Dat Weed," which samples the piano riff from "In The End," and "Buck Gangsta Beat," which samples elements from "Papercut".
• Sequel Song: Many of them. Some span 4 parts even.
• Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll
• Signature Style: Their musical style initially featured eerie, slow, dark, menacing bass driven almost industrial synth beats with equally gritty horror themed lyrics. Like an evil precursor, if you will, to what became the Crunk sound.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Every last one of them.
• Southern Rap: Naturally, hailing from Memphis and all.
• Take That!: Their early career saw various back-and-forth disses.
  • "Big Bizness" is implied to be one towards Gangsta Blac.
    • "Live By Yo Rep" is the one to Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
    • "Gotcha Shakin" aims its weapons towards Playa Fly, who went in on them first with "Triple Bitch Mafia".
    DJ Paul: Yeah, you fuckin punk, I'm finna take yo motherfuckin beat and go nationwide with it, bitch!
    • "Sippin on Some Sizzurp" has Bun B of UGK deliver a humorous one to the pussies that don't sip or smoke.
    Bun B: You ol' pussy-ass, cake-ass, punk-ass, trick-ass, sucker-ass, fuck-ass, dick-in-the-booty-ass, K-Y -Jelly-packing-ass nigga
    You better get your bitch ass up off the street, nigga
    You got five seconds to get your hating ass up outta here
• Tattooed Crook: Lord Infamous and DJ Paul.
• Trope Codifier: They were this for the Memphis horrorcore style, with their slow tempos, sparse, lo-fi productions that rarely employed samples, dark, menacing lyrical content and aggressive flows, and horror-inspired synth lines that cut a central figure through the music, and their influence can be felt on modern acts like Ghostemane, Lil Ugly Mane, $UICIDEBOY$, Denzel Curry, and SpaceGhostPurrp.
• Verbal Tic: SHUTTHEFUCKUP!!, courtesy of Juicy J.
• Villain Song: Their song "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" was used as the entrance theme for professional wrestler Mark Henry during Henry's gimmick as a Scary Black World's Strongest Man who would legitimately injure opponents and put them on the shelf. Zig-Zagged however as Henry kept using the song even after his Heel–Face Turn.

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