Interview by Tyrone Davis
How did reuniting with the original members of Three 6 Mafia come about? It’s been about 10 years, right?
Its been 13 for everybody because Koopsta Knicca was the first to go, followed by Gangsta Boo, Lord Infamous, then Crunchy Black. Basically, I was playing around with the idea on Twitter one night and the fans started going crazy saying they’ve been wanting that forever. So, I started reaching out to everybody. I was already talking to Lord because that’s my blood brother and I see Crunchy a lot because he lives on the west coast. Then, I got in touch with Koop and Boo. Everybody was excited. We all got on the phone and was joking around like nothing had ever happened. We met and got in the studio and did 23 songs in 3 days, then came back and did another 8 in a day. So, it has been hitting off good man. We got some killer too. Got the old sound and crew back and a lot of people are happy.
As of today, most people who are following the situation know that everybody is back, except Juicy J. What will it take to get Juicy on board for a full project in your opinion? Also, are you still cool?
Man, I don’t know. Money. That’s what he said in his interview. He said if Sony gives him 16 million dollars, he’d do it or some shit so I guess that’s what it’ll take. That’s never going to happen because Sony is not about to do that. He answered the question for all of you. We’re cool. We still talk because we have businesses together and we still make a lot of money together. We just haven’t talked about music.
Speaking of Sony, what happened with the Sony deal?
We’re still signed to Sony. That’s who put his project out. The “Bands” and all that. That was pushed by Sony. I got a deal with Sony on my solo stuff as well but I just chose to do all of my stuff independently because I can do it the way I want to do it. I can make it as gangsta and hard as I want to and I don’t have to play by their rules up there where they only want to hear pop shit. I don’t want to do that. We tried that with the last Three 6 Mafia singles they threw out there. It was good, we sold some records, did a lot of shows, made a lot of money but that’s not something I want to do for the rest of my life.
I’d rather stay underground. You got artists out here like Tech N9ne, he probably got more money than half, over half….Naw, he probably got more money than 99% of the rappers out here, lol. He keeps it straight underground and he feeds his solid, core fan base. Insane Clown Posse is the same way. Them nor Tech N9ne have songs on the radio or videos on MTV, but they still make tons and tons of money. They stay loyal to their fan base and keep their music how their fans want to hear it. That’s how Three 6 Mafia was. We just gotta get it back to those days. That solid, hardcore shit for the fans and fuck what anybody else thinks.
A lot of aspiring artists are trying to come up but don’t really understand the business side. You said you’re still signed to Sony but you’re doing your own thing independently. How does that work, being that you’re signed to them but are not putting out music for them?
That was something that I had in my contract a long time ago. People can’t really do that these days with these 360 deals. These guys just come to these labels for help. They’re young guys, they don’t really have any money, but they have the talent so they go to the label and management to get somebody to back them. Me and Juicy didn’t do that when we first got our deal. We came to Sony already millionaires. We’re probably one of the only ones in the history of music that were already millionaires. There were a few like Master P, but there weren’t a lot. When you go in there and you already got money, you can name your own price. Whats that? Priceline? Name your own price? Lol. Yea, so we already had put out “Mystic Stylez”, which had sold like 300 and something thousand copies straight independent at $7.50 a unit. Do the math on that.
I was like 19 years old. Then we had, “The End”, which came out the door, selling 40 something thousand copies and once that happened, they saw. Sony was the same label that had turned us down when we had tried to get them to sign us after Mystic Styles but they didn’t like our music because it was so different. It was crunk and we were talking about cocaine and killing people and crazy shit. After “The End” came, they were like, “Oh shit. Now, we got to do something.” so they flew us out to New York right after that album came out and gave us a record deal. When we walked in the door, we already had money so I was like, “I’m not about to take this crap you’re trying to give me. This $200,000 up front, core budget.” We told them how much we wanted, then we got up and left up out the door. We went right up the street to Jive Records, which was offering us more money but we ended up getting it right and going over to Relativity Records.
Ok, so back to the current project. How did you go about the recording process and making sure everyone was on one accord?
When I talked with everyone and we all agreed that we were going to do it, I just went in the studio and started writing songs and making beats all day, everyday. Once I got around them, I’d just play them a beat and tell them how the hook went. They were happy to hear those beats. They said they hadn’t had beats like that in forever. They were excited, so everyone just started knocking their verses out in 10-15 minutes. Koopsta was doing his shit in like 5 minutes, he was so happy. He was the first one to be out the group, so he was super super ready, lol.
Who was responsible for the group’s image?
Me and Juicy did a lot of it together but most of that was me because I actually used to design our album covers. I didn’t do the artwork myself, but I was hands on with the computer guy. I would draw it out with a pen and paper, like the Hypnotize Mindz logo over Koopsta’s apartment. If you go all the way back to my original material before Three 6 Mafia, it was always that. My first group was called, “The Serial Killers” with me and Lord Infamous. We had a mixtape called, “Come With Me To Hell” so I was always on that dark stuff. I collected those types of magazines, serial killer books, and memorabilia. I’ve always been into that so that’s where, “Three 6 Mafia” came from.
Are you in contact with any of the older Prophet Ent. members at all like Playa Fly or anyone else?
Me and Fly haven’t spoke directly, but we’ve spoken through people. We just never got it to work out. I just don’t know what’s up with him. I tried to get him on the new Mafia project and he said he wanted a million dollars for a verse…..good luck with that. He was always a difficult dude. I don’t know where that comes from. He has a lot of talent and he’s just throwing it out the window. Well, he threw it out the window because it’s probably too late now. Its sad.
I tried to get Gangsta Blac on there. He lives right up the street from Playa Fly so they’re pretty much birds of a feather. He was cool with it at first but once again, I was talking to him through somebody else. I saw where he kinda flipped his lid on Twitter or whatever. Outside of that, I talked to Scan Man. Scan Man is cool. Nobody else, I’ve talked to. I heard K-Rock is in prison and T-Rock, I wouldn’t dare talk to him. MC Mac, he’s cool, he’s my boy, but since he fools with T-Rock, I can’t deal with him either.
What happened with T-Rock?
Man, to tell you the truth, I don’t even know. It was so long ago. I remember he made it bigger than it was though. We separated for whatever reason it was. I think it had something to do with a cousin of his who was a police officer that opened up a management company and a record label and talked him into going that route. I don’t remember what we originally separated for but I do remember it wasn’t as big as T-Rock tried to make it one day when we were on tour in Alabama. We were on the same show as him. There were a bunch of Atlanta rappers there. Killer Mike was there.
It was just us. Me, Juicy, Crunchy, Lord, and Lil Flip. Lil Flip was riding with us on the bus because he was with Sony as well. So, T-Rock started talking shit and showing out because he thought all the Atlanta rappers was going to have his back. He’s not remembering or thinking that I’m cool with all these Atlanta rappers. Atlanta was following Three 6 Mafia when his little ass was still in a diper. So, he was talking shit and all hell broke loose. He had like 2 or 3 people with him, but that wasn’t enough. Lil Flip wasn’t fighting because he didn’t have nothing to do with it but T-Rock got his ass handed to him and that was pretty much it. I haven’t seen him since.
What about Lil Whyte, Frayser Boy, and Project Pat?
Lil Whyte is going to be on the project. We do a lot of shows and travel together. Frayser Boys isn’t with us anymore. I haven’t talked to Pat. That’s Juicy’s brother so he’s over there with him. I text’d him one day but didn’t hear back so I just left it alone.
Moving forward, tell us about the Barbecue sauce.
I have a barbecue sauce out as well as a new “all purpose” seasoning coming out and I got a hot sauce in the making that we’re trying to get right. You can check it out at www.djpaulbbq.com. Its good, man. Everybody that’s tasted it loves the hell out of it. We’re selling the shit out of it. Its a good thing. It came about with me spending a lot of time on the west coast and not having the Memphis BBQ I grew up on. It kinda pissed me off and forced me to make my own.
What’s the main difference between Memphis and Cali?
The main difference is the food. Its some good soul food on the west. Spot I go to is called, M&M’s. They’re from Mississippi. The Neely’s. The people are different, obviously. They’re not as friendly as they are in the South. When you move in, the people don’t want you to know who they are, and they don’t want to know who you are. They really just don’t give a shit. In the south, your neighbor will come over to meet you. With the houses I’ve bought in the south, the neighbors will come over, the welcome committee with oven mits and cookies, with telephone numbers for other people in the neighborhood in case I want to meet them, which I don’t lol. Its the South. The Westcoast isn’t like that and that’s cool because sometimes is not good for neighbors to know who you are or what you got.
How do you feel about Memphis Rap?
Everybody is the same. Much love to all the Memphis Rappers out there. It started off with people trying to sound like Memphis, now you got Memphis trying to sound like other people. They let it slip away. They’re just trying to keep up with what’s in. They aren’t as brave as we were when we were coming up to try something different. My mother used to say before she passed that, “Memphis is scared of change.” At the same time, the city is getting raped by the light, gas, and water company. I have some family members over there paying one amount for a small to medium house for their utilities and I’m on the Westcoast in a house quadruple that size paying the same amount WITH a studio in it running and a swimming pool outside with jacuzzi heated year round. WTF…..
Memphis or Atlanta…..who created, “Crunk”?
Oh, that’s Memphis all day. Atlanta will tell you that. All you gotta do is look at the history books. Even Lil Jon said Three 6 Mafia was an influence. I remember my first show in Atlanta was like back in 1994, we was doing this club called, “The Gate”. It was real popular club back then. We was opening up for Mack 10 and getting crunk on stage, wildin, drunk, pouring liquor, slipping on it and falling all over the place which was making us look even crazier on the stage. Once we left, the crowd was like, “WTF was that?” A few weeks later, the promoter called for us to come back, but this time we were going to be the headliners. We’ve been going to Atlanta ever since then.
Memphis created the crunk sound, but I will give Atlanta the credit for building it and keeping that sound alive. Lil Jon sold tons of records as well as other people like the Youngbloods. Before them, it was just us and 8Ball and MJG. Al Capone as well. None of us really had major deals back then but Atlanta was able to give it that major push to feed that monster.
In a recent article with Krayzie Bone, he said the beef between Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs N Harmony was the result of instigators more so then there actually being an issue between the two groups.
Our sound is totally different. Like he said, it was mostly people hyping it up (on the whole 666 thing and the tongue twists). We didn’t even tongue twist as much as they did. We just had a couple of guys that did it. We both had a dark sound. We come from almost the same area. Cleveland isn’t south, but they’re not too far from it. There are a lot of people from the south up that way like in Chicago, Indiana, etc. So, we have a lot in common. Thats the real reason our sound was a lot alike probably. I don’t think they stole anything from us or anything.
How would you like to be remembered once all of this music is over?
As the Dr. Dre of the South.
Contact info?
My Twitter and Instagram is @djpaulkom and the group’s Twitter is @damafia6ix.
