Why do Three 6 Mafia feel disrespected?
One of the most influential groups of Southern hip-hop, Three 6 Mafia are genre pioneers for their role in developing crunk, horrorcore, and trap music in the 1990s.
Having kicked off their musical career as a horror-themed underground group, their debut album Mystic Stylez, released in 1995, became an instant classic and has retained a cult following since. A decade later, the group won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”, one of the first hip-hop songs to ever win an Oscar.
So it would be entirely reasonable to assume Three 6 Mafia are deserving of respect. And yet, according to founder DJ Paul, the group is comprised of members DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Crunchy Black, with former members including Lord Infamous, Koopsta Knicca, and Gangsta Boo – they don’t receive enough of it.
Speaking to NME magazine in 2020 upon their reformation after an 11-year hiatus, Paul expressed why he doesn’t believe Three 6 Mafia receives the glory it deserves, despite how, as the interviewee points out, a lot of new artists are “redoing old Three 6 Mafia songs”.
“There’s a lot of people out here that don’t get the credit they deserve,” Paul said. “It’s because when you’re great at something and other people become great off something that you’ve done they’re not going to give you credit because they don’t want anyone to know where that greatness came from. They want everybody to think that they’re the greatest to ever do it. So a lot of greats never get the credit they deserve.”
“There’s so many people out here making money off the Three 6 Mafia sound and it’s totally changed their lives,” the rapper continued. “Probably 90-odd per cent of the rappers out right now wouldn’t be out if it wasn’t for Three 6 Mafia. But they’re not gonna come out and say that. I’ve tried to get a couple of ‘em to say it, that they grew up on Three 6 Mafia, but they won’t do it, not on camera.
“There’s still a million people out here the say they created crunk music and that they created trap music. You know we created trap music. It’s evident. The people that are out here saying that they created it aren’t even old enough to have been able to create it. I was doing trap music in ninth grade and they weren’t even alive yet. Whatever, it’s all good. I ain’t trippin’,” he concluded.
Three 6 Mafia have been sampled extensively by the new generation of hip-hop artists. Firstly, by the likes of 2000s and 2010s rap artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Drake, A$AP Ferg, Cardi B, G-Eazy and A$AP Rocky; and secondly, even by artists outside of the genre like James Blake. The group have also made individual collaborations with some of the biggest stars in music this century, such as Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake. When lined up with the data like that, DJ Paul’s frustrations are entirely valid.
And yet despite not having the international fame and wealth of some of their peers, their influence is undeniable. As the interviewer cites, some claim Three 6 Mafia are the most influential group since The Beatles.
“Yeah, for sure,” Paul replied. “We changed music. We got country bands out here doing hi-hats and drum patterns. We influenced EDM records when they started going into trap. We created a whole new sound for hip-hop. Crunk made way for a whole new sound. It’s crazy, man.”