Memphis, TN · horrorcore · crunk

Three 6 Mafia

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Memphis's murk-and-menace originators, whose tape-hiss production is now the foundation of half of underground rap — Oscar winners, improbably.

Before Three 6 Mafia existed, DJ Paul and his half-brother Lord Infamous were composing songs together as teenagers, forming the duo Da Serial Killaz and circulating homemade mixtapes around Memphis. Juicy J was building a separate name for himself as a DJ in North Memphis before the three linked up in 1991 and formed Three 6 Mafia the following year, later joined by Crunchy Black, Koopsta Knicca and Gangsta Boo.

Their 1992 recording "Portrait of a Serial Killa", pairing Paul's dark beats with Lord Infamous's horrorcore lyrics, is regarded as a pioneering document of the style. The 1995 debut album Mystic Stylez then set out the sound the group became known for: slowed, ominous loops, hi-hat-heavy drum programming and horror-film imagery, and it has since become a cult classic.

The group released music on independent labels including Prophet Entertainment and their own Hypnotize Minds, alongside deals with Relativity, Loud and Columbia Records. Two albums, When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 and Most Known Unknown, were certified platinum by the RIAA, and the group's worldwide sales stood at 5.5 million as of 2016.

Most Known Unknown carried the single "Stay Fly" into the mainstream, and in 2006 the group won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," written for the film Hustle & Flow. Their most recent studio album, Last 2 Walk, was released in 2008, and their production style has been widely cited by later trap and underground rap artists.

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horrorcorecrunk