Three 6 Mafia

Not all Southern rappers crave booty-bass beats like a crackhead needs a hit. Although the cheesy Photoshop-generated cover art might fool you, Three 6 Mafia -- a Memphis, TN–based collective of six sick rappers -- is not another generic crew of Southern rappers signed in the post–Master P prospecting bonanza. MCs Lord Infamous, Koopsta Knicca, Crunchy Black, and Gangsta Boo (who are joined by producers Juicy J and DJ Paul) lay down their blood-drenched rhymes atop slow, sinister soundscapes that are about as far removed as you can get from the New Orleans bounce of Juvenile and his Cash Money cohorts. The first album suffers from poor, muddy production, which turns out to be an advantage rather than a liability. The lo-fi sound only intensifies the creepiness of their murder rhymes, giving the Southern synthetic production aesthetic a deeply surreal quality that defies easy categorization. You might call it Southern hip-hop folk art (though don't call it that to the Mafia's face or you might be on the receiving end of a serious beatdown). Once they could afford a good studio, unfortunately, the quality of their music went down, though they did recover with the glossy and flossy (but still dark and disturbing) When the Smoke Clears. (KEMBREW MCLEOD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide