Three 6 Mafia enjoying post-Oscar attention

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Memphis-based rap trio Three 6 Mafia won more than an Oscar for best original song ("It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," from 2005's "Hustle & Flow") at the 78th Academy Awards in March. The act also took home a golden new lease on its career.


The group's latest feat is a just-signed three-year production deal with Warner Bros. Under the joint venture, Warner Bros. will market, distribute and promote artists and other ventures (films, videogames) on Three 6 Mafia's label, Hypnotize Minds Productions. Now a duo (member Crunchy Black exited to pursue a solo career), the act will also produce records for such Warner Bros. artists as Mike Jones, Lil' Scrappy and Trillville.

The Warner deal won't affect Three 6's relationship with Sony BMG, which distributes the group's artist releases.

"This deal is big for us because it gives us the opportunity to grab new talent and work them through Warner Bros.' heavy duty machine," says Three 6 member Jordan "Juicy J" Houston, who wrote "Pimp" with bandmate Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard and Cedric "Frayser Boy" Coleman. "(Warner Bros.) has a good formula, they understand the South sound, and they know how to market and break records over there," Houston adds.

Meanwhile, the Academy Awards gave the group's ninth album, 2005's "Most Known Unknown" (Hypnotize Minds/Columbia) a dramatic boost. Initially sold on the strength of lead single "Stay Fly," the album bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and has shifted 913,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan -- 224,000 of which came after the Oscar win. All prior albums (excluding 2003's "Da Unbreakables") have pushed less than 500,000 units.

"(The Oscar) let people know we could write a good song for a movie," Houston says. "We've been working for over 15-16 years and it's like the hard work is paying off. People actually want us to act in their movies (in addition to) doing music."

Now the group finds itself developing projects by artists who, frankly, might previously have thought twice before collaborating with Three 6 Mafia ( Paris Hilton, Justin Timberlake).

In addition to recording tracks for the soundtrack to Sylvester Stallone's upcoming "Rocky 6," Houston and Beauregard have met with numerous TV and movie companies (Columbia Pictures, Paramount, 21st Century Fox), and their feature film "The Streets of Memphis" is in the works. They recently finished the script for "Choices III: The Return of Big Pat" -- the third installment in their DVD series "Choices," which will be distributed through Warner Bros. -- and will be appearing in episodes of HBO's "Entourage," VH1's "Flavor of Love" and E's "Girls Next Door."

Three 6 Mafia is only the second rap act to win an Academy Award. In 2002, Eminem won in the best song category for "Lose Yourself," from his film debut, "8 Mile."

Reuters/Billboard