
Three 6 Mafia’s new album The Known Unknowns is in stores now. Its lead single, “Stay Fly,” is probably the best piece of music to come out in 2005. The Hypnotize Camp Posse Yep, Three 6 Mafia are the new Dipset. They were here before and they will be here after. Don’t want to look like you just caught on? Here’s all you need to know to act like you knew all along. The Three 6 foundation
1995’s Mystic Styles and the Live by Yo Rep EP pack dark beats and brutal posse cuts, as does 1997’s The End, with the standout “Body Parts.” Up until the Relativity debut Chapt. 2 “World Domination” (1997), there’s also a heavy Bone Thugs influence, with messy double-time flows all over the place. Tear Da Club Up Thugs’ Crazyndalazdayz (1999) compilation has the classic “Slob on My Knob (Like Corn on the Cob)” as well as Crunchy Blac’s “Get Buck Get Wild” anthem. Three 6’s crossover began when they bounced over to Loud with When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6 Sixty 1 (2000), featuring the seminal “Sippin’ on Some Syrup (feat. UGK), arguably the best southern rap song ever, and the hilarious “Tongue Ring.” Always quick to comment on the cultural innovations of the day, DJ Paul and Juicy J pen “2 Way Freak” for the soundtrack to their 2001 movie Choices. Finally picked up by Sony in 2003, Three 6 topped their previous sales with Da Unbreakables, helmed by the hit “Ridin’ Spinners.” All the while, Paul and J have released independent compilations (featuring notable collaborations with the Dayton Family) under the names Prophet Posse, Hypnotize Camp Posse and Kings of Memphis. Project Pat, the Wayward Brother
This behemoth’s career has unfortunately been punctuated by jail bids. Still, he enjoyed at least two hit singles: “Gel and Weave” and of course, the classic “Chickenhead,” where he goes back and forth with La’ Chat. Chat: “You ridin’ clean but your gas tank is on E / Be stepping out ain’t got no decent shoes on your feet” Pat: “That’s just the meter broke, you don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout / Anyway, them new Jordans finna come out.” With the cadence and rigor of a metronome, he meticulously changes his delivery in every verse he spits. You must also see his standout performance in the Choices movies, namely the scene where he gets a pep talk and complains that his homies lack “viiiision.” Gangsta Boo and La’ Chat, the Girls
In an unpublished 2000 Vice interview, all Gangsta Boo could talk about was how she likes hanging with white boys and popping X. On record she’s much more sensible, standing up for her single black females on her smash “Where Dem Dollars At.” And things get even deeper on “I Faked It Last Night,” where the chorus goes: “Why you lyin’ to your boys, tellin’ them you slangin’ pipe / You ain’t even make me cum, I faked it last night,” to which DJ Paul answers: “I would’ve pulled your hair but I was scared it would come out / I’ll paint your face like Kiss with this nut when it runs out.” When Boo mysteriously got kicked out of Three 6 she was replaced by La’ Chat, who sounds a little harder than her and looks way more badass. Standout tracks on her Murder She Spoke album include “You Ain’t Mad Iz Ya” and “Slob on My Cat,” an apropos response to “Slob on My Knob”: “I met two niggas, said they wanna fuck / One ate my pussy, the other licked my butt.” The Kids
Look out for the new releases from DJ Paul and Juicy J’s new protégés Lil Wyte, Chrome, and Frayser Boy.