Zach Yanowitz of The Tulane Hullabaloo looks back 15 years later at "Mystic Stylez," the debut proper album by Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia, and in the opinion of the self-described "white boy from the Massachusetts suburbs," it has held up pretty well over the years (he can't say the same for the group itself). He holds up "Stylez" as "one of the most influential albums in the history of Southern Hip Hop," an important influence on New Orleans bounce music and "horrorcore," and even "what might be the hardest rap album of all time."
Now rich, fat, happy and Oscar-winning, Three 6 might not be the devilish young purveyors of terrifying murder music they once were, but their sound remains as influential in hip-hop -- if not more so -- than their '90s peers, from Nas to Diddy. And look at the underground, where international bass-music deejays are slipping in Three 6 tracks alongside dubstep and future-garage.
Now rich, fat, happy and Oscar-winning, Three 6 might not be the devilish young purveyors of terrifying murder music they once were, but their sound remains as influential in hip-hop -- if not more so -- than their '90s peers, from Nas to Diddy. And look at the underground, where international bass-music deejays are slipping in Three 6 tracks alongside dubstep and future-garage.
Leave a comment