Juicy J and DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia are recognized for their label, Hypnotize Minds, gritty beats, street lyrics and their acclaimed performance at the 2006 Oscars. Among all this success, the most admirable aspect of Three 6 Mafia is how far they have come from their roots in Memphis, and their impressive longevity in the music industry.

“Memphis is a very tough city. As a kid I was always interested in music,” Juicy J tells andPOP. ”I didn’t exactly know it was going to be rap that I was doing but as I got older, I got into deejaying, and I taught myself how to scratch, and around 14 or 15, my friend Denny Jackson (we called him D-Magic), would let me use his equipment.

“He would set the equipment up, and I would come in and scratch and mix, and that’s how I got myself a name for being a DJ. I was doing mix tapes on the north side of town, Paul was doing mix tapes on the south side of town, and a friend of ours just hooked us up and then we started Three 6 Mafia and Hypnotize Minds and it just grew from there.”

With the new album, Laws of Power, scheduled to be released on January 26, longtime Three 6 fans and newer enthusiasts will be treated to a large variety of styles dating from the old-school street sound to the newer mainstream singles.

“You know, these days, you got to have something for everybody. Three 6 Mafia is a household name, from underground to mainstream,” Juicy J explains.

“Our singles like ‘Shake My’ lean more towards the rhythmic pop side, which is not bad at all, because, you know, we have to eat, and then we have a song called ‘Lil Freak,’ which leans more toward our regional urban fan base, which we started with. We’re just trying to work both sides of the fence.”

“The new album has got two songs that sound different, but the rest of the album is straight gangsta’, straight street, a lot like our original Three 6 Mafia stuff.”

Laws of Power will reveal a deeper understanding of their music, as it contains grittier tracks that do not get airtime on the radio. “We took our sound even farther back. It was so much in demand, people wanted to hear that old Three 6 sound,” says Juicy J.

Three 6 Mafia’s business approach to music is savvy and smart, and traces back to their early days in Memphis, Tennessee. Juicy J recalls selling cassette tapes out of the back of a van, and attributes their dedication and hard work to their success in the industry today. “We built our own brand ourselves. We started from the streets of Memphis, it was such a grind. We sold tapes, we would stand out there in the hot sun putting up posters, it’s all just legwork,” he remembers. “We did lots and lots of legwork.”

The legwork paid off.

In 2006, Three 6 Mafia made history as they became to the first black music group to win an Academy Award for Best Song. The group was nominated for the song, “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp,” from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack.

“Man, it’s a blessing. Everyday I wake up it’s still unbelievable,” Juicy J says of the experience. “If you was around with Three 6 Mafia, back in the day, all the stuff we went through, all the doors we had slammed in our face, you’ll just know how unbelievable it is.”

He continues, “it’s amazing what it took us to get to this point. It took a long time, a lot of concentration, a lot of dedication. You know what I’m saying, trying to stay positive all the time, because when we first started, the record label people didn’t know what to do with our music. They didn’t know how to market it, they didn’t understand it. And to be on that stage, just brings up the feelings of all that stuff we went through. It was just like, ‘wow.’ Hard work does pay off. It was a blessing man, we’ve got the worlds longest Oscar party going on right now. We ain’t stopping partying, we still partying.”

In the midst of all their success, Juicy J admits that staying focused amid the many distractions in the music industry is a difficult endeavor. “You can get so easily lost, you know, there’s so much going on.”

“Personal issues, music issues, you can always get unfocused,” he explains. “The bars, the women, but we’ve been doing it for so long, that we know how to handle situations like that. You’ve really just got to stay in the studio. We know that there’s a time for play, and there’s a time for business.”

The time for business is apparently now, because otherwise the upcoming release of Laws of Power, both Juicy J and DJ Paul have solo albums out, are consistently touring and have a reality show in the works with MTV and VH1.  The production is a cooking show, in which Three 6 Mafia makes complex dishes for people to come in and judge.

“Right now it’s in negotiation, it’s called ‘Cooking Ain’t Easy,” explains Juicy J. “We get challenged by big chefs to make really big dishes. We’re going to have people come and judge it, and if the food tastes good, they’re going to be like ‘hey, it tastes good.’ And if it’s bad it’ll be, ‘man, this is garbage,’ and we’ll order some pizza!”

It’s a unique twist on the typical cooking show, filled with celebrity friends of the label, inventive mistakes and fun.
“It’ll be a show that you can sit back and learn how to cook something, and get a laugh or two,” he quips.

What’s up next for the dynamic duo?

“We’re ready just to jump back on this road. I feel good, I’m energetic, we feel blessed that we’ve been doing this around here for so long. It’s always exciting, and we’re amped to meet the fans, see how they feel, how they like the new songs. It’s going to be a good year.”

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