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Three 6 Mafia is the first hip hop group from Memphis, Tennessee to go platinum, the second hip-hop act to be nominated for and win an Oscar (1st was Eminem's "Lose Yourself"). They are the originators of certain types of crunk music. The group currently has three core members — DJ Paul, Juicy J and Crunchy Black, — and once included Koopsta Knicca, Gangsta Boo, and Lord Infamous, all of whom have left, or have been kicked out of the group. They commonly feature members of their extended collective of rappers, referenced to as the Hypnotize Minds (as well as other names), in their projects.

History

Three 6 Mafia started in 1991 with two brothers, DJ Paul and Lord Infamous who chose to collaborate with Juicy J under the name Triple 6 Mafia. The hip hop group formed through release of many EPs off of their own record company Prophet Entertainment (later renamed Hypnotize Minds Records). During their early career, they also were able to propel the careers of several other rappers.

In 1995, the group released its first official album, Mystic Stylez. It had recorded this album by using the profits from its highly successful underground tape Smoked Out, Loced Out. This was followed by the Live by Yo Rep EP, which took lyrical jabs at Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and their second album, Chapter 1: Da End.

In 1997, they were signed to Relativity Records, where they released the first major record release, Chapter 2: World Domination. During this time, they were able to develop their technical style to gain some attention from major hip hop audiences with the single "Tear Da Club Up '97".

At this point in the group's evolution, having signed to a major label and having scored an admirable hit single, group leaders Juicy J and DJ Paul began extending their brand. They started by releasing group member solo albums (Gangsta Boo, Koopsta Knicca), non-group member solo albums (Project Pat, The Kaze) and also compilation-styled albums (Tear Da Club Up Thugs, Hypnotize Camp Posse, Da Headbussaz and Prophet Posse). Around this time, they also released collections of tracks from earlier years (Underground Vol. 1: 1991-1994, Underground Vol. 2: Club Memphis, Underground Vol. 3: Kings of Memphis).

In 2000, the official Three 6 Mafia follow-up to the Chapter 2 album, When the Smoke Clears, was released. With the success of the lead single, Sippin’ on Some Syrup in a few non-Southern markets, the album debuted at number six on Billboard's album charts. It received no MTV airplay and little national radio rotation. This is the year Koopsta Knicca left the group.

They later began work on the direct-to-video film, Choices: The Movie, and affiliated solo albums. Choices and its accompanying soundtrack (Choices: The Album) were released in 2001. Gangsta Boo left the group this same year.

The year of 2002 saw two solo releases from the group's two producers. One from DJ Paul called Underground Vol. 16: For Da Summa and one called Chronicles of the Juice Man by Juicy J.

In 2003, Three 6 Mafia released the album Da Unbreakables, which features collaborations with Lil' Flip, Pimp C (from UGK), Lil Wyte, Frayser Boy and Project Pat. The album produced the hit "Ridin' Spinners," which featured Lil' Flip.

In 2005, the group released their follow up direct-to-video, Choices II: The Set Up, and their highly anticipated album, Most Known Unknown. It was notable that Lord Infamous was missing from this album. The generally accepted reason was that he had been incarcerated; however, Three 6 Mafia claimed he was on "holiday." Recently, he has officially returned to Three 6 Mafia. The album includes the hit "Stay Fly", featuring Young Buck and 8 Ball & MJG. They also worked on the movie Hustle & Flow, which would lead them to an award and released a greatest hits album, Most Known Hits.

On June 7, 2006, Sony officially acknowledged the departure of original Three 6 Mafia member, Crunchy Black. He stated his reason for departure was to make a solo album that DJ Paul and Juicy J had put off for years.

Three 6 Mafia released a greatest hits album entitled Smoked Out: Greatest Hits on October 6, 2006. It features some of their greatest hits in their career.

Controversy

Their name has been a topic of controversy because of some people's belief that their name refers to the Number of the Beast. They are known to have mentioned the occult in song topics and this, with their name, has potentially affected their amount of television and radio play (until their success with "Stay Fly"). They have never claimed to worship Satan however, and have said they are Christian. The name's meaning is attributed to "it started with three people in the group, ended up with six, Three 6 Mafia" according to an interview with Juicy J. The group is now at 3 members again with Lord Infamous in jail and Project Pat filling in.

On the 1995 single, Live By Yo Rep, the group had accused a Cleveland group, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, of stealing its style (a mix of quasi-harmonic rapping and blatant references to the occult). A rebuttal from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony came on the track "All Original" on their album, Art of War, that speaks critical remarks against Three 6 Mafia. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony paid insult to Three 6 Mafia on the song "Notorious Thugs" with The Notorious B.I.G..

The group was also able to make a number of other enemies with former members such as Playa Fly, Gangsta Blac, T-Rock and Kingpin Skinny Pimp. They also lost several members such as Koopsta Knicca, who left due to a monetary dispute, while La Chat and Gangsta Boo are currently pursuing solo careers. Gangsta Boo was rumored to have converted to a more conservative form of Christianity, changing her name to Lady Boo, feeling that "Gangsta" was no way to express her beliefs, but she switched back to Gangsta Boo and began rapping with her old style shortly after her departure.

Their 2006 single, Stay Fly, was also referenced in the argument of Three 6 Mafia's Satanic "shoutouts" for the high pitched, almost female voice, in the background at the beginnning of the song. The voice was assumed, by at least some, to be saying "Lucifer, Is My King, 'Til I Die". However, the track was actually derived from a classic funk/soul singer, Willie Hutch. The actual track says "You're my pride, you're my dream, you're my Dar-ling, Tell me Why? Tell me Why? Has our love gone cold?!".

Awards

On March 5, 2006, Three 6 Mafia made history as they became the first African American hip-hop group to win an Academy Award for Best Song and also became the first hip-hop artists to ever perform at the ceremony. The group was nominated for the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack. This marked only the second time that a hip-hop act was nominated, following Eminem. The Oscar-winning members of Three 6 Mafia were credited by their real names, Jordan Houston (Juicy J) and Paul Beauregard (DJ Paul), along with Cedric Duane Coleman (Frayser Boy), although host Jon Stewart did refer to them as Three 6 Mafia after their victory.