Three 6 Mafia |
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Tue. August 12.2003 10:26 AM EDT |
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Three 6 Mafia: Apocalypse NowThe brutal crew discusses the Memphis way of life, including streets, spinners and syrup. There may be haters at the radio station, but there are fans - including Saliva - all around town. by C. Bottomley |
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Three 6 Mafia (Publicity) |
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Considering how much Three 6 Mafia’s Juicy J raps about violence and all-around mayhem, it seems sadly fitting that his Memphis hometown was recently wrecked by a twister.
“I was in a tornado,” he says over his cell phone. “It was crazy
Juicy J should be used to the view. Along with DJ Paul and Lord Infamous, he first came to prominence with the Three 6 Mafia’s “Tear Da Club Up ‘97.” Members of the clique have come and gone - Gangsta Boo even found religion - but the original trio has stuck to the cardinal virtues of chaos, getting high, and sipping on the noxious concoction known as syrup. Impending apocalypse is just a matter of course. The Mafia rarely mess with their formula, and it’s in full effect on the new Da Unbreakables. DJ Paul and Juicy J supply the primal beats and epic synthesized hooks. Their catchy singsong raps celebrate their syrup obsession on “Rainbow Colors,” potent marijuana on “Bin Laden,” compliant ho’s on “Shake That Jelly” and havoc on “Let’s Start a Riot.” The non-stop profanity and blunted psychosis is not for the squeamish, but Memphis rockers Saliva brave the pandemonium to guest on “Mosh Pit.” Behind the wild stares and metal teeth featured on their album sleeves, the Mafia are savvy businessmen. For every “Putcha D. in Her Mouth” there’s a tamer but ‘hood-friendly track like “Ridin’ Spinners.” They’ve also fed their fans’ demand with an endless stream of products ranging from solo albums to hit DVDs. Their industry has paid off. When Da Unbreakables went straight into the Billboard album Top Five upon release, it was clear these cult figures had become over-ground chart terrorists. Three 6 Mafia are the hottest thing from Memphis since Justin Timberlake, but Juicy J is still waiting to see the love. It shouldn’t matter - what his group really thrives on is hate. And hey, at the end of the day, they’re the ones going home in a Bentley. Speaking from the disaster area, J was cagey about his syrup recipe, but he did share his thoughts on the difference between Bin Laden and Bobby Brown. VH1: What did you do when you found out Da Unbreakables went into the rap charts at No. 1? Juicy J: Man, I just got drunk. I didn’t believe it until I actually saw it with my own eyes. Then I just celebrated, man. Popped me a bottle, got drunk and passed out. VH1: You just played with Nelly in Atlanta. Are you used to that kind of crowd? JJ: It was mostly a young crowd, black and white kids. They knew every word to every one of our songs. I was kind of shocked, but it was a blessing to learn that not only your own kind knows the words to your song. There was a lot of love. VH1: Why do people from outside Memphis relate to your music? JJ: Probably because a lot of people go through the same thing. Like the song “Ridin’ Spinners.” Right now, that’s the thing. Rims that spin is the sh*t. You look around TV or just in the neighborhood you see young black and white kids, Hispanics, everybody riding spinners. We talking about something that everyone can relate to. VH1: When you were starting out, what local rappers were influencing you? JJ: DJ Spanish Fly and another guy by the name of Sonny D were like the Memphis pioneers of rap music. I looked at them as mentors. They did their own music and put their mix tapes out. Especially Spanish Fly, he used to rap on his own tapes and put his own songs out in the clubs. He made his own stuff hot. We followed in the footsteps of those guys. VH1: On “Testin' My Gangsta” you describe Memphis as “the city that loves to hate.” Do you guys get a lot of respect from Memphis for what you do? JJ: We get a lot of respect, but mainly these little bullsh*t local rappers down here try to stand in our way of doing anything. They go to the radio stations and they almost come out of the pocket to pay them not play our records, you know? We have a lot of problems with those kind of people down here. There are certain people at radio stations in our city that don’t show us love. We done did free shows here, we gave stuff to the homeless, we did so much down here in this city, it don’t make no sense, man. I ain’t saying that we should be able to do what we want, but at least like [show us] a little love. Because we doing something legal, you know what I’m saying? It’s not illegal. It’s legal. This is a Three 6 Mafia city, but we get hated on by certain people that got big positions down here. VH1: Does Da Unbreakables’ success make it more difficult to stay in touch with the streets? JJ: We still stay in touch with the streets. My dad got an organization called Breakthrough Ministry; he gives back to the community. We give out clothes, we give out food, we do all kinds of stuff down here. So we got a lot of love for the streets. That’s one thing they can’t take from us, is the streets, because the streets love Three 6 Mafia. VH1: How did Saliva end up on “Mosh Pit”? JJ: We’ve known Saliva before they got their deal. We did a show with Saliva years ago when we had an independent album out; they had an independent album out. We packed it out, and we rocked. From then on, we’ve been friends. We always talked about doing something once we blew up, and the time was now, you know? They’d come by our studio all the time, hang out, and drink a beer. We got a good friendship with them. They came by and just did their thing. VH1: One of your biggest hits is “Sipping on Some Syrup.” What exactly is syrup? JJ: It’s whatever you want it to be. You could put Sprite and Coke together and you can call it syrup if you want to. You can make some sweet tea and make it real extra sweet and you can call it syrup. It’s a party drink. VH1: Well, “Rainbow Colors” mentions Jolly Ranchers. How do they get involved? JJ: Well, that’s if you want to put Jolly Ranchers in your cup. It’s whatever you want to put it in. A lot of times, the Jolly Ranchers might not dissolve. It depends what you put it in. Yup. VH1: It doesn’t have anything to do with chugging cough syrup, does it? JJ: I wouldn’t say cough syrup, but … good stuff. How about that? VH1: Uh-huh. So now explain what the Bin Laden is. JJ: Bin Laden is a lot of different kinds of weeds mixed together. They call it “straight killer,” so they named it “Bin Laden.” The guy who introduced it to me said, “That’s what they’s smoke up there [in Chicago].” Man, it knocks you off your feet! It’s some of the most potent weed you ever smoked in your whole life! VH1: Is Bin Laden and the Bobby Brown mentioned in the song the same thing? JJ: Well, Bobby Brown is like the bad weed. Nothing against Bobby Brown, but I mean, they call it “brown weed.” It’s not bad weed, but it’s brown … you know what I’m talking about! VH1: Right. Your Web site says you’re the reason clubs have security. Have you ever been banned from a club? JJ: Aw yeah. “Tear the Club Up” was bad. Back in the day, when “Tear the Club Up,” came out, before we did a show, we had to sign a contract saying we weren’t going to do that song or they wouldn’t pay us. VH1: Have you seen audiences go crazy when you’re performing? JJ: We did a show in Flint, Michigan, like a day ago and they tore the whole club up. They threw chairs through the windows and police had to come and they had to shut the whole place down. I can’t even recall the first time it happened, but I thought it was a good thing. If you can get somebody to fight off your song, it must be a real good song, that’s how I put it. VH1: You still drive yourselves to shows. Are you always keeping an eye on the bottom line? JJ: That’s why we got a lot of money. The Three 6 Mafia may not be on TV much, but the money is there, man. You come down [to Memphis], you see these Bentleys and Benzes, everything paid for. That shocks people. They be like, “Man, you guys ain’t even on TV!” But see, it’s not about TV. It’s about managing your money, paying your taxes, and being smart. A lot of guys I hear be on TV a lot, but they don’t have a dime in their pocket. You can’t spend it all on cars and women and liquor and weed. You got to put something back for a hard time. You got to get some stocks and bonds, some land or something. That money’s going out. You can’t rap forever. VH1: Is there anything that you just have to spend money on? JJ: Put it like this - I got a Bentley, I got a Benz, I got a Range Rover. I got everything I wanted, but I only did it when I had enough. I didn’t do it when I only had $20,000 in my pocket. I waited until I had enough, ‘til I knew I could do it. When I weighed it and figured I could do it, then I did it. VH1: Which one of those cars is your favorite? JJ: The Bentley, man. I love that car. I put a chrome grill on the front of it. I put some tin on it, and just ride it low-key. It makes me feel like I accomplished a lot. I own it, and it’s not like it’s hurting me. Some guys spend all their money on one car and that’s it. I own it all. It’s mine, I got the title. |
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