Three 6 Mafia: Da Unbreakables : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Memphis rappers can't think outside the box the clubbing and the thugging are rowdy down Memphis way, and for a decade, Three 6 Mafia have been providing the soundtrack for both. A frenetic, fiercely local collective, the six-man group has rarely cared to translate its drawl for outsiders. On Da Unbreakables, it's still preoccupied with round-the-way haters ("Let's Start a Riot," "They Bout to Find Yo Body"); "Testin My Gangsta" is packed tight with belligerence, pairing angry rhymes with rapid percussion and vicious guitar licks lifted from the film The Mack. Three 6 stretch out a bit: "Ridin Spinners," an homage to custom rims, contrasts the urgency of a sample from Eazy-E's anthem "Eazy-Duz-It" with the lethargy of guest rapper Lil Flip, from Houston. But mostly, Unbreakables proves that some parties just don't travel well.

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 929, August 21, 2003)