Three 6 Mafia is a group of US rap musicians, sometimes called the Wu Tang Clan of the South. The group has included many members (including Gangsta Blac, Gangsta Boo, La Chat and Koopsta Knicca). The group now consists of Crunchy Black, Lord Infamous, Juicy J and DJ Paul, the latter two being the in-house producers. They are best known for their gruesome lyrics, extolling drugs, pornography, and violence. They are the first rap artists from Memphis, TN to go platinum.

In 1995, the Memphis underground rap group Triple 6 Mafia released their first official album, Mystic Stylez. They had recorded this album by using the profits from their highly successful underground tape Smoked Out & Loc'ed Out. They then changed their name to "Three 6 Mafia" (or sometimes "3-6 Mafia") and now use the Triple-6 name on the compilations of reissued tracks from their underground tapes. They did this because radio stations supposedly refused to play the songs of an "evil" group who referred to "666" in their name. There are also rumors that the name was changed because of copyright reasons due to a falling out with others in the Memphis rap scene. The group is has had a number of disputes with former allies, namely Playa Fly, Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp. In fact, some say that they were originally named "Three Six Mafia" (all words spelled out), then switched to "Triple Six" for similar reasons!

On the 1995 single "Live By Yo Rep", they openly accused Cleveland group Bone Thugs n Harmony of stealing their style (a mix of quasi-harmonic rapping and blatant references to the occult). The track "All Original" on Bone's Art of War album is thought to be a diss to Three Six (this beef is said to have been squashed today however).

Eventually Three 6 became less preoccupied with these tendencies and moved more towards the "crunk" style of rap- repetitive chanting aimed at hyping a crowd (i.e.- "tear the club up nigga, tear the club up!"). This direction and some well executed collaborations (including "Sippin on Syrup" with Texans UGK) helped them reach number 6 on the Billboard album chart in 2000 with their CD 6661: When the Smoke Clears.

They have expanded their operations considerably and their stable of affiliated rappers is called Hypnotize Minds the Hypnotize Camp Posse (HCP). Aside from many of the individual members releasing solo albums, they have also released Tear da Club Up Thugs (a side project) and Three Six Mafia presents: Hypnotize Camp Posse (a Memphis rap compilation). Unfortunately they have also lost more members. La Chat and Koopsta Knicca are MIA. Gangsta Boo is rumored to have turned to Christianity and is interested in Gospel music. T-Rock has publicly dissed the entire clique and accused them of shady business dealings in interviews and on his track "Mr. Big Man".

In 2003 they released the album Da Unbreakables, which features collaborations with Lil Flip, Pimp C (from UGK) and Project Pat.

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