Three 6 Mafia
Formed in Memphis in 1991 by DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Lord Infamous, Three 6 Mafia turned horror-movie dread and hand-to-hand mixtape hustle into a dark, bass-heavy signature sound; their 1995 debut Mystic Stylez is a landmark of Memphis rap and horrorcore. They crossed into the mainstream with 2005's 'Stay Fly' and, the following year, became the first rap group to win a competitive Academy Award, taking Best Original Song for 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp.'
DJ Paul has named DJ Spanish Fly a direct personal influence; Spanish Fly is widely credited as the bridge between 1980s electro-funk and the heavier gangsta rap that followed, introducing the slow, 808-driven sound that became Three 6 Mafia's foundation.
listen forCompare DJ Spanish Fly's 'Move Muthafucka' to Three 6 Mafia's 'Late Nite Tip' — the same lurching, bass-heavy 808 pulse and murky low end, a few years and one generation apart.
DJ Paul and Juicy J have said they came up wanting to make music like N.W.A and Geto Boys, and Three 6 Mafia's early horrorcore imagery builds directly on the psychological-horror gangsta rap Geto Boys pioneered out of Houston.
listen forPlay Geto Boys' 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me' and then Three 6 Mafia's 'Tear da Club Up' — the same paranoid, matter-of-fact dread, just sped up and roughened into Memphis's harder underground sound.
Both DJ Paul and Juicy J have named Soni D, alongside DJ Spanish Fly, as one of the two Memphis pioneers who mentored them — the DJ who first pressed and hand-sold Memphis rap on cassette and vinyl before Three 6 Mafia existed.
listen forSoni D's crude, DIY 'I Need Money' captures the hand-to-hand mixtape hustle of pre-Three 6 Mafia Memphis; Three 6 Mafia's 'Who Run It' carries that same scrappy, crew-cypher energy into a national hit.