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Are you happy with the new Three 6 Mafia album?
Yeah, I love it! I love it.
You know a lot of people still think Mystic Stylez was your best album.
Yeah, for real.
Taking it back, what got you into making music?
Man, I bin' doin' this for years. I used to always like to beat on shit. First I wanted to be a drummer, then I wanted to be a guitar player, then a deejay ya know what I'm sayin'? Believe or not, early when I started listenin' to music I didn't really have nothin' to work with but a Playskool turntable and a Walt Disney record, tell you the truth! Shit, I used to listen to whatever came on the radio - Prince, Michael Jackson, Doobie Brothers. Then just deejaying and makin' underground tapes. That's what we call 'em, underground tapes. Little small tapes with a white label on it, wrote my name on it - "Juicy J Presents...whatever" and sold 'em in the studio stores. That was early nineties, like '91, '92.
What were the streets of Memphis like when you were comin' up?
Man...rough. Muthafuckers robbin' and sellin' drugs. Stealin' shit, killin' each other.
What's goin' on in Memphis now?
It's still like that. In Memphis you got sections. You got a section over in North Memphis you can go to and you wanna see some niggas standin' outside on the corner, somebody get shot you can see it. Ya know, they got sections in Blackhaven. The best part of Memphis is like the Germantown area.
Would you ever leave?
I can't leave. If I leave I feel I might change my style or something man, so I'm scared to leave.
Why is Memphis known for so much significant black music?
It comes from the ghetto man, from the street. Memphis was always known for blues ya know, BB King. Isaac Hayes with his funk sound, Al Green with his ballads, with a little funk on the side, pimpin' music. It was always known for that kind of sound.
And with all the rap talent in Memphis there's still dissin' goin' on.
Always. Memphis is like that. Somebody always gonna get jealous of what you doin'. Them rappers just studio, they really embarrass theyself 'coz if somebody say they gonna do this to Three 6 Mafia, people laughin' at 'em man. You see Juicy J on the street every day, ain't nobody came at me with nothin'. The stuff they do in Memphis man, the little dissin', all that's bullshit. That's just straight studio gangsters.
Where do the different members of Three 6 Mafia come from?
Well I came from North Memphis. My brother (Project Pat), he from North Memphis too. Paul from Blackhaven zone, Lord Infamous Blackhaven zone. Crunchy Black, he from a lot of places, he lived all over the place. From what I know of Crunchy he lived in Blackhaven and Gangsta Boo she lived in North Memphis but then she moved to Blackhaven. Koopsta, he from North Memphis. The rest of the members like the Hypnotize Camp, the Killa Klan, they from Raleigh-Frazier, Third World and La Chat, she from Westwood. That's the new girl we workin' with right now.
She was with Tommy Wright.
Yeah, she was with Tommy Wright. But she rapped on Mystic Stylez a long time ago on the posse song. She used to rap with us then she just chilled for a minute but we signed her back up and she back on now. She blazin'. I'm gonna put a little tape out on her independent first, let it get like a little buzz, then I'mma take her national. I wanna give her a buzz first, I don't wanna just throw her out there and spend a lot of money through Loud, 'coz when you do something through majors they gonna spend some real serious duckets. That's what I'mma do on her 'coz I'm tryna develop her, I want her to be real big, at least close to 300,000 or gold status. I know I can do 20 or 30 just on independent but I'm gon' try and at least grab a hundred, then boom.
What have been your biggest sellers?
Tear Da Clup Up Thugz went gold, we waitin' on our plaque right now. Chapter 2: World Domination still sell like a muthafucker man. I don't know if it will ever reach platinum, it's sold like 800,000.
Because you've been around for a minute your shit must have some mileage.
We did a show down at this college thing, Kappa Beach Party. We got off stage and this guy walked up to me like 'man, I didn't know you had that many songs, I bin' hearin' these songs, I didn't know that was y'all!' There's a lot of people that hear them songs but don't know it was us.
How do the figures you see independently compare with the stuff you've put out through Loud or Relativity?
It depends on what you sell. You sell 100,000 on a major company, that ain't really shit man, everybody knows that. 'Coz you promoted all over the United States. You sell 100,000 on an independent with not much promotion you can keep a lotta cash, ya know man? That's how it usually go. On the album The End, it soundscanned over 200,000. That's independent now. You talkin' about big money. A lot of cheese rolled in on that one. A lotta cheese! A major company do help you out though, don't get me wrong. The major companies get you video play, that good exposure you need, you get a lotta shows, we workin' on a movie now, know what I'm sayin'? There's a lot goin' on. You can make a lot of money through a major but you gonna have to sell some records. 'Coz that promotion helps. I mean if you don't sell no records it ain't good to be on no major. If you just gonna sell 50,000 to a hundred on a major you really need to get off that junt. But if you see you can go gold and keep rollin' you can make some money. We get too many shows man. People wanna put you on tour, they get you out there. An independent can only really take you from the front yard to the back yard and that's about it. The majors can get you out there. I know you been followin' our underground stuff but if you never really did that you'd probably have never heard of us. You was just curious, there's not that many curious people out there. It be like 'man, I ain't got nothin' but 20 dollars, I'm not gonna spend it on some shit called Mystic Stylez. I'mma grab this Jay-Z, I done heard it and it's bumpin', but this other little shit?!' Twenty dollars is a lotta money man.
How do you handle all the business you get?
It's difficult man. Sometimes I get so many faxes I have to cut the fax machine off 'coz I can't handle all the work. We very very busy. We got Lil Pat, the engineer that do the mixin'. Me and Paul, we do co-mixin' and then we do the music, answering phones, takin' faxes, might have to get a nigga outta jail sometimes, bookin' shows know what I'm sayin'? It ain't easy.
Where did you pick up these skills?
You wanna do somethin' you can do it. You wanna learn how to drive a car when you young, you gonna learn how to do it. You wanna learn how to work a camera, you gonna read the instructions and find a way to do it. I wanted to learn about this business so I had to actually get out there, talk to some lawyers, some managers and do it. Get up in the morning, answer the phone, handle business straight, book shows, you gotta want to do it. You can't be lazy, sittin' around.
Were you in the streets before all this?
No, not really. I mean I did a little bit here and there ya know, but I never did just drop off the keyz and say 'hey man, gimme the cheese and I'm gonna open me a record company'. I ain't never did no shit like that man.
Who has most input on the production - you or Paul?
Both of us do. He do a track, I do a track. And sometimes we do 'em together. There's a lot of tracks we done created together but a lot of tracks he do his stuff, I do my stuff.
What's the deal with pimpin' in Memphis?
Pimpin' is in the shake junt now. Pure Passion, Platinum Plus, Tiffanys. They play us in Platinum Plus like a muthafucker. For real. That's the spot where all Triple Six Mafia people go to.
What are your plans for the future?
Man, I'm gonna be doin' a lot of shit. I got a couple of rock acts I'm workin' on, some R&B and everything. I got me a Limp Bizkit out there I'mma sign for real. White dude. Like a Limp Bizkit, Beastie Boy dude. Me and Paul workin' on that. We got some R&B shit, we just haven't brought it out yet but it's in the works right now. 'Coz see rap artists come and go but record companies can always stand because a record company put out records. I'm always lookin' for new talent 'coz Three 6 Mafia, before you know it man, the shit will have bin' here and there. Once you up you gotta come down, then there's somebody else they'll be lookin' for. So this record company gonna sit here and be lookin' for that somebody else after. We gonna put out a lotta shit and it ain't gonna be just rap. I'll put out country, blues if I can. I will.
So you're into other types of shit?
We did a song with Insane Clown Posse on this new album. I love those dudes man, they rockin'. I got all they CDs. I listen to all kinds of stuff. I listen to Smashmouth. Man you might get in my car, you might hear Diana Ross Greatest Hits, some shit that came out in the 1960s or somethin' like that. Madonna. I be listenin' to all kinds of music man, you'd be surprised.
Interview by Remington Steel