Three 6 Mafia
A Memphis horrorcore crew from 1991 that ended up on the Oscar stage in 2006, winning Best Original Song for "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" while "Stay Fly" was all over the radio. Nobody saw it coming, least of all the Academy.
Three 6 Mafia came out of Memphis, Tennessee, where DJ Paul and Juicy J first crossed paths in 1991 when Juicy went looking for help making beats. With rapper Lord Infamous they formed the Backyard Posse, and in 1993 a line of Infamous's calling the crew the "Triple Six Mafia" stuck as a name that fit the bleak, horror-themed sound. Koopsta Knicca joined in 1994, Crunchy Black and Gangsta Boo were official members by 1995, and that year the group, now Three 6 Mafia, released the debut Mystic Stylez on their Prophet imprint, an album Wikipedia describes as an influential cult classic. Chapter 2: World Domination, released in 1997 after a Sony deal, went gold and carried the club anthem "Tear Da Club Up."
The 2000 album When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 became the group's first platinum record on the strength of "Sippin' on Some Syrup" with UGK, even as the lineup thinned: Koopsta Knicca was forced out in 2000 after a robbery incarceration, and Gangsta Boo left in 2001. Da Unbreakables went gold in 2003 behind "Ridin' Spinners."
Then came 2005. With Lord Infamous away on a jail stint, the trio of DJ Paul, Juicy J and Crunchy Black released Most Known Unknown on September 27, which opened at number three and went platinum by the following June. Its single "Stay Fly," with 8Ball & MJG and Young Buck over a Willie Hutch sample, peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, the group's biggest hit, and went double platinum. That same summer Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow, the Terrence Howard film about a Memphis pimp who dreams of rapping, arrived with a theme song DJ Paul, Juicy J and Frayser Boy had written for it after producer John Singleton brought them in.
At the 78th Academy Awards in March 2006 the group performed "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" with Taraji P. Henson singing the chorus, and then Queen Latifah opened the envelope. They were the first hip-hop group to win Best Original Song and the first hip-hop act to perform at the ceremony; ABC News called the performance an Oscar milestone the next morning. An MTV reality show, Adventures in Hollyhood, followed in 2007, and Last 2 Walk in 2008 remains the group's latest studio album.
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