And the Oscar Goes to … Three 6 Mafia

It took Three 6 Mafia about 14 years to win an Oscar. That's a lot more than most rap acts can say, who have to be content with just number one songs and platinum records. But kidding aside, Three 6 Mafia has worked hard since the beginning to keep their sound real yet build their fan base and rep throughout their industry.

Their sound has changed a bit, though, over the years. If you listen to Three 6 Mafia back in the day, when they first formed in 1991 and when they released the first Three 6 Mafia record in 1994, they had that horrorcore rap sound that you can also hear in some of the Wu Tang Clan's material. Dark Three 6 Mafia lyrics intertwined with stingy yet heavy beats that drove the music along like the climax of a horror flick.

That first album was called "Smoked Out, Loced Out," which Three 6 Mafia released back then on their own label, called Prophet Entertainment. They got their first Three 6 Mafia mainstream record label record with 1995's "Mystic Stylez." Then for the next couple years, they released a Three 6 Mafia album a year, including the 1996 "Chapter 1" and 1997 "Chapter 2." After this, the members of the Three 6 Mafia started doing solo work and other work with other groups, much like Wu Tang's style of production.

Turning a Corner Toward That Oscar

And who are these members of Three 6 Mafia by the way? We've talked so much about them without really formally introducing them. How rude of me! The original members all come out of the Tennessee city of Memphis, itself a classic music city. They got their start, as we said, back in 1991, when Juicy J, DJ Paul, and Lord Infamous got together. They later allowed in Crunchy Black, Gangsta Boo, and Koopsta Knicca into the Three 6 Mafia.

Now that we have the introductions out of the way … we can get back to our story about Three 6 Mafia and how in 2000 they released their next group album, called "When the Smoke Clears." Even though this was a hit in the South, the group and its songs were still not getting much national attention.

That wouldn't really happen on a large scale until they produced a Three 6 Mafia song for the "Hustle and Flow" movie soundtrack. That Three 6 Mafia song was "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." And in 2005, that song would win that Oscar we talked about, and have white moms across the country humming the song as they did their grocery shopping and drove their kids to soccer practice.

Kidding aside, it was no small feat. The Three 6 Mafia song was the first ever black music group to win Best Song of the Year, and the first ever hip hop group to perform live at the Oscar ceremony. Since then, the group has lost members, but carried on with appearances on such movies as "Jackass Two" and in a reality TV show called "Adventures in Hollyhood."

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