Southern hip-hop has always been an underappreciated facet of rap music. The South has become the dominant force with acts such as Future, the Migos, and Travis Scott. However, unlike New York and LA, a supergroup has never emerged from the region. However, in an interview on the Drink Champs, Texas emcee Bun B unveiled that he was nearly part of a Southern mega-crew.
In an interview on BET, Murdaer Inc. boss Irv Gotti revealed that Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule were supposed to form a supergroup in the late 1990s. However, during this same period, Texas duo UGK attempted to merge with the Memphis crew Three 6 Mafia.
In 2000, the two groups collaborated on a track that was meant to be the first of many singles. Explaining the situation to the hosts Noreaga and DJ EFN, Bun B (real name Bernard Freeman) recalled, “‘Sippin’ on Some Sizzurp’ was actually the first song from a group that UGK and Three Six Mafia was doing together. We were going to be The Underground Mafia.”
The hit featured on Three 6 Mafia’s 2000 album When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1. The two groups recorded a second song in an attempt to join forces in the form of ‘Like a Pimp’ from UGK’s 2001 album Dirty Money.
Admitting that few know the two groups were working tirelessly with each other during the early 2000s, Freeman stated, “I don’t know if too many people know that. A couple of people might know that. ‘Like a Pimp’ [was another]. ‘Sippin’ on Some Sizzurp’ was the record for their album, and the song ‘Like a Pimp’ was the song for our album. We did ’em Super Bowl weekend in Atlanta.”
When asked by Noreaga and DJ EFN why the supergroup never made a full-length studio album, Bun B explained that Pimp C’s imprisonment in 2002 prevented it from happening.
Detailing that period, “We never got that far into it because Pimp got locked up, so we never even got to finish the project. And then coming back home…Most people don’t know that the original version of ‘Int’l Player’s Anthem’ was us and Three 6 Mafia. So that’s like the return actually of us getting back to Underground Mafia music, but that version wouldn’t clear.”
Unfortunately, UGK and Three 6 Mafia were never able to put their Underground Mafia plan into action before Pimp C passed away in December 2007. You can listen to Bun B speak about the supergroup plans in the video below.
