We were sent the uncensored version to review
and if some of the songs were censored the only
thing left would be the techno beat and no words
at all.  If anger is their muse, they are not holding
anything back with their words.  This rap is something
of statement showing the two or more seperate worlds
that exist in our country.  When I asked white kids 
and adults, very few had even heard of this group 
before.  When I asked young black parents and kids
the results were quite different.  The parents and kids
who knew the group at all smiled like the verbal sin was
sneaking out the side of their smiles.  If you want
inner-city gangsta rap this is your album and your
group...bro.

Three 6 Mafia
Da Unbreakable

Three 6 Mafia

Launching separate careers as popular rival deejays around Memphis, group leaders and Hypnotize Minds co-owners DJ Paul and Juicy J earned street credibility on the mix tape circuit. While Paul was making his mark in the Black Haven section with his brother  Lord Infamous, Juicy was holding down the North side with a buzz of his own. The two joined forces in 1990 and began producing tapes together. They adopted the name Backyard Posse, and their first underground tape. Smoked Out. Loced Out, had the city hooked on their hypnotic blend of ritualistic chants, Satanic verses and rowdy instrumentals.

 "When you in the same city of a million and a half people, everybody knows everybody," Juicy explains. "And when you in the music business, you gone run across each other one way or the other." Soon after, they changed their name to Three 6 Mafia, enlisted Lord Infamous and Crunchy Black to the group and released their first Select-0-Hits-distributed independent album. Mystic Stvlez, in 1995. Spattered with horror flick inserts, demonic suggestions
and blood-curdling homicidal references, the CD sold more than 80,000 units throughout the region.

Adding to their controversial popularity, the group dropped an EP later that year entitled Live By Yo Rep. The EP was a dis record aimed at Cleveland-based Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who had allegedly made negative comments about Memphis. And in early 97,
            
Three 6 independently released their second indie effort. The End. After pushing more than 200,000 units. Relativity Records signed them to a label deal under their own Hypnotize Minds imprint.

"They had heard the record and saw the SoundScan, and it was booming. We was selling real good. We had a lotta hype," says the Juice Man. "We had the city behind us. They was broadcasting us on the news everyday- talking about the new group from Memphis."
            
Their first major label release. Chapter 2: World Domination, dropped later in 1997 and debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200. Shouting riot-inducing commandments atop trunk-popping 808 drums, a gothic piano loop and shotgun blasts, the group claimed gold status on the strength of the destructive lead single, "Tear Da Club Up."
            
"Our music builds off hatred," explains DJ Paul. "If I was living in paradise, I couldn't come up with some of the songs that I do. And us being the only big rappers out of Memphis, we run into a lot of hatred."
            
Further building on that hatred, Paul and J signed other local talents to Hypnotize Minds.  Producing all of the tracks, this dynamic duo known as "the Check Writers" released solo albums by Gangsta Boo, La Chat and platinum-certified hustler Project Pat, who is also
            
Juice's brother. In addition, CrazyNDaLazDayz. a joint effort between DJ Paul, Juicy J and Lord Infamous- calling themselves Tear Da Club Up Thugs, reached gold status in 1999.

But it wasn't until the smash success of When The Smoke Clears in 2000 did Three 6  become a household name. Featuring Bun-B and Pimp C along with Project Pat on the hook, the lead single, "Sippin On Syrup," propelled the group into superstardom. The album debuted at number six on Billboard's album charts in summer 2000 and sold well over one million copies. That same year. Billboard awarded Hypnotize Minds the "Imprint of the Year" title.
            
"Most of the stuff that we say or do is stuff that niggas do from our city," says Juicy. "Like riddin spinners, sippin on sizzurp, tearin the clubs up that's all Memphis stuff. They still tear clubs up."            Breaking more ground. Three 6 earned more accolades with the straight-to-video gangsta tale "Choices" and its accompanying soundtrack. Outselling all others on the shelves at the time, the flick moved more than 100,000 units, which is platinum for movies.
            
Although the group has steadily made advances across the nation, Paul and J continue to possess the underground. Without the aid of a major label, they each released indie solo albums last year (DJ Paul's Underground 16: For Da Summa and Juicy J's Chronicles of          the Juice Man) along with underground albums by label signees Lil Wyte, T-Rock and a collaboration effort between Paul, J and ex-No Limit artist Fiend called Da Headbussaz.
            
The album. Pat's How It Happen To'm. was released in 2002 and raced up Billboard's Independent Charts. "If you check our catalogue, everything we've sold has been over 100,000 copies         independent. No majors. No 75 percent; no 25 percent taken out. No percentages taken out, and we own the masters," says Juicy. "We might not be on TV that much, but the Bentleys, the Rolls-Royces, the big houses we got all that. We got everything we want.
            
It's just not broadcasted."  Now, the group is prepared to break even more ground with Da Unbreakables. The album features usual Hypnotize suspects Frayser Boy, Lil Wyte and three songs           featuring  unreleased material from Project Pat. Atop fast-paced, 808-induced production and a clever sample from 1973 pimp epic The Mack, Three 6 puts haters in their place with  verbal trigger play on "Testin My Gangsta." On "Try Something," the Hypnotize Minds
camp finds themselves down on their asses. Over horrific piano chords, subtle organs and piercing snares, they rob and steal for a meal. And on the violently unruly "Mosh Pit," they continue to rip clubs apart accompanied by rock group Saliva.
            
While Da Unbreakables still boasts the same damaging effects as other projects. Three 6 covers new terrain with new sounds and a more mature appeal. "This album got some more serious verses and more serious songs than the last album did," says Paul. "but it's
still on that wild level and gangsta."
                                      

              www.daunbreakables.com
            www.three-6-mafia.net
            www.triplesix.com
            www.columbiarecords.com