Three 6 Mafia Flooding The Streets With Rhymes
With an uncharacteristic avalanche of material, Three 6 Mafia and their
affiliates have bumrushed record stores with a release each of the last
three weeks. La' Chat, the feisty female heard earlier this year on Project
Pat's "Chickenhead," unveiled her debut album, Murder She Spoke, late last
month, while Three 6 Mafia released the soundtrack for their "Choices" movie
on October 30 and the "Choices" DVD and VHS on Tuesday.
Normally strategically spaced out, the current releases from
Memphis' biggest rap family were affected by the terrorist attacks on
the U.S. "We had planned to have a month gap between Chat and the 'Choices'
soundtrack, but after the stuff happened on September 11, [our parent
companies] pushed the soundtrack album, the movie and Chat all back," said
Three 6 Mafia member and producer DJ Paul, who is joined in the group by
Juicy "J," Gangsta Boo, Lord Infamous, Crunchy Black and Koopsta Knicca.
The group's affiliates include Project Pat, La' Chat and T-Rock.
The next batch of Three 6 Mafia-helmed releases — including The Dirty Dirty Vol. 1 compilation, Project Pat's Layin' the Smack Down and Three 6 Mafia's The Unbreakables, as well as as-yet-untitled albums from T-Rock and Frayser Boy — will all be properly set up and spaced from the clique's other releases.
Scheduled for a January release, The Dirty Dirty Vol. 1 compilation marks
the first time the Three 6 Mafia family will be releasing a collection that
features artists without direct ties to their enterprise. While touring, DJ
Paul and Juicy "J" came in contact with a number of talented artists they
felt needed a national platform for their music. The album's first single
will likely be "Round 'N Round" from Miami's Yung-N.
"It's just an album of guys that we thought could blow up if they had a
little break," DJ Paul said. "I'm just trying to give them the break that
they needed and give them a chance to have their stuff heard worldwide."
Project Pat's Layin' the Smack Down, scheduled for a February release,
will be "more gangster," Paul said, than Pat's last effort, 2001's Mista Don't Play.
Three 6 Mafia are in the middle of recording The Unbreakables, which should
arrive in stores in the spring. The follow-up to 2000's platinum
When the Smoke Clears - Sixty 6 Sixty 1 will feature the group's
traditional, rowdy sound, while Paul promised a surprise or two for
long-time fans.
"We're going to keep it the same flavor, as far as all the sh-- that we talk
about, but we're going to throw some extras up in there," he said. "We're
just going to work it until we like it, until we feel it's something that
we'd like to ride around and listen to ourselves."
One of the biggest surprises for Mafia supporters may come from Gangsta Boo. Now known as Lady Boo, the lone female Three 6 Mafia member has undergone
a personal change that may or may not be apparent in her music.
"She's gone Christian or something," DJ Paul said. "She's been preaching
and doing little seminars here and there." So will she alter her raunchy
raps? "I don't know what she'll be rapping about, to tell the truth," DJ
Paul said. "She'll probably be talking about killing and [sex], like
she usually does. I don't know. You never know with her."
One thing's for sure, however — Three 6 Mafia will be busy making their next
round of raucous music for the next several months.
"I'm going to be in the studio for the winter, hibernating," DJ Paul said.