Triple 6 Mafia

Triple 6 Mafia is a group of US rap musicians, sometimes known as the Wu Tang Clan of the South. The group has gone through many members (including Crunchy Black[?], Gangsta Boo[?], Lord Infamous[?], Koopsta Knicca[?] & chief producers Juicy J[?] and DJ Paul[?]) and are best known for their gruesome lyrics, extolling drugs, pornography, and violence. They are the first rap artists from Memphis, TN to go platinum.

They released several underground mixtapes in the Memphis area which were extremely gritty but very adventurous in that they sampled everything from classic soul music to well-known rap tracks. Some of the tracks on these tapes were re-recorded for later albums such as "Long and Hard" and "Tear Da Club Up".

They released their first album, Mystic Stylez, in 1995. They then changed their name to "Three 6 Mafia" (or sometimes "3-6 Mafia") and now use the Triple-6 name on the compilations of reissued tracks from their underground tapes. They did this because radio stations supposedly refused to play the songs of an "evil" group who referred to "666" in their name. There are also rumors that the name was changed because of copyright reasons due to a falling out with someone else in the Memphis rap scene. The group is has had a number of disputes with former allies, namely Playa Fly, Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp. In fact, some say that they were originally named "Three Six Mafia", then switched to "Triple Six" for similar reasons!

On the 1995 single "Live By Yo Rep", they openly accused Cleveland group Bone Thugs n Harmony of stealing their style (a mix of quasi-harmonic rapping and blatant references to the occult). The track "All Original" on Bone's Art of War album is thought to be a diss to Three Six (this beef is said to have been squashed today however).

Eventually Three 6 became less preoccupied with these tendencies and moved more towards the "crunk[?]" style of rap- repetitive chanting aimed at hyping a crowd (i.e.- "tear the club up nigga, tear the club up!"). This direction and some well executed collaborations (including "Sippin on Syrup" with Texans UGK[?]) helped them reach number 6 on the Billboard album chart in 2000 with their CD 6661: When the Smoke Clears.

They have expanded their operations considerably and their stable of affiliated rappers is called the Hypnotize (Minds) Camp Posse or HCP. Aside from many of the individual members releasing solo albums, they have also released Tear da Club Up Thugs (a side project) and Three Six Mafia presents: Hypnotize Camp Posse (a Memphis rap compilation). Unfortunately they have also lost more members. La Chat and Koopsta Knicca are MIA. Gangsta Boo is rumored to have turned to Christianity and is interested in gospel music. T-Rock has publicly dissed the entire clique and accused them of shady business dealings in interviews and on his track "Mr. Big Man".

Meanwhile HCP member (and brother of Juicy J) Project Pat[?] was very forward about the label's intentions in an interview with Murder Dog:

"Let me explain something to you. Memphis, us, Hypnotize Minds - we're not in this for the hip-hop. No way. We're not hip-hop rap. We're into the reality shit, trying to make the money shit. It ain't even about the rap; it's about the cheese. If the cheese don't flow, we lay the pens and papers down. And the drum machines will go in the car. If it ain't about no money, we don't even want to hear nothing about it. That's just being real. A lot of folks tell me I'm a rapper, but I feel that I'm not. But if that's what they want to make me, I'm for the people. It's cool. But Hypnotize Minds is not a company of rap, even though that's our business. "

In 2003 they released the album Da Unbreakables, which features collaborations with Lil Flip[?], Pimp C[?] (from UGK), Project Pat[?] and Lil Wyte.

External Links

• Hypnotize Minds official site (http://www.triplesix.com)
• Project Pat interview (http://murderdog.com/archives/projectpat/projectpat)
• T-Rock interview (http://www.iap-tv.com/trock_interview_pt2.htm)