Before Three 6 Mafia became a sprawling slew of loosely connected side projects, DJ Paul began his musical career as a popular Memphis DJ around 1990, creating mix tapes at home with his brother, Lord Infamous. In 1991, DJ Paul met up with another hot local DJ, Juicy J, who was a fan of his mix tapes; the two began producing tapes with them rapping over beats and they eventually began integrating local MCs into their music. After Juicy J and DJ Paul honed their beats to the point where they had developed a trademark sound (later showcased on Underground, Vol. 1, a collection of their early recordings from 1991-1994), they began officially collaborating with local MCs; these resulted in their first underground release as Triple 6 Mafia, Smoked Out Loced Out. After an enthusiastic response within the South, the group changed their name to Three 6 Mafia and put out their first official album in 1995, Mystic Stylez.
At this early point in their career, the early Three 6 Mafia camp prided themselves on being as raw as possible, rapping explicitly about sex, drugs, and violence. While these topics weren't exactly MTV material, they did garner a considerable cult following ?quite similar to what Esham was doing in Detroit at the time ?and the group used controversy to further fuel their growing popularity via the media by releasing an EP, Live by Yo Rep, which took lyrical shots at Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. After following up their debut and EP with a second album, The End, Three 6 Mafia signed to Relativity Records. Having released their early albums on the group's independently run Prophet Entertainment label, their first major-label release, Chapter 2: World Domination, found the group polishing up their production and tweaking their image a bit. They also reprised "Tear the Club Up" from Mystic Stylez as "Tear the Club Up '97" and found themselves with a respectable anthem that made its way out of the South.
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 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). Similar in approach to Master P's No Limit Records at the end of the '90s, a glut of Three 6 Mafia-affiliated albums soon flooded the market. Though even the most diehard fan couldn't possibly keep up with every release, these many albums did help bring increased awareness about what was going on in Memphis. This became evident in summer 2000 when the long-awaited "official" Three 6 Mafia follow-up to 1997's Chapter 2 album, When The Smoke Clears, finally hit the streets. Aided immensely by the surprising national success of the lead single, "Sippin' on Some Syrup", in a few non-Southern markets, the album debuted at No.6 on Billboard's album charts. Following the success of this album (which received no MTV and little national radio rotation), began work on the direct-to-video film Choices and on affiliated solo albums. Choices and its accompanying soundtrack were released in 2001, while Three 6 Mafia returned in 2003 with Da Unbreakables. Most Known Unknowns followed in 2005. In 2006, they made history - as they became the first hip-hop group to ever win an Oscar, for their single "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp", which was the theme single to the film Hustle & Flow. Last 2 Walk followed in 2007.
Sound Files (MP3)
Stay Fly (w/Young Buck, Eightball & MJG) - from the album Most Known Unknown
Doe Boy Fresh (w/Chamillionaire) - from the album Last 2 Walk
