had turntables, mics, everything I couldn’t afford. A friend of mine was like, “Man, I got this friend with all of the equipment, we should go over there and record.” So I went over to his shotgun house-where you look through the front door you can see the back door-with this dude named Vasco, who was rapping with me. When I was 15, I was still in Memphis, in the hood, broke. Photo by Virginia Turbett/Redferns Prince I would be in my room all day just fucking with them, studying all the wires. My dad would always get mad because I was messing with his tape recorders. That’s how I started using a miniature fader to transform shit. I had a wire and when I would hit the wire on the cassette player, music would come out. So I took one of his cassette tape players and used it as a mixer, because I couldn’t afford a mixer. He would record speeches of him preaching gospel and sell them or give them away. My dad was a preacher so he used to have a lot of tape recorders around the house. It was hard as hell to do, but later on, somebody sold me a piece-of-trash turntable: super old, it came in a case, you could flip the case, turn it on, and it had a speaker on the side of it. When I heard Jazzy Jeff’s scratches I remember saying to myself, “I gotta be a DJ.” So I got a Fisher-Price turntable and used a metal bread wrapper with the plastic pulled off of it for a needle, because I couldn’t afford a real one. “Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble” grabbed me.
Jordan about playing me.”ĭJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince: “ Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble”Īround then I came across Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, who are one of my favorite groups of all time.
“Real shit, my story will be told in movies one day,” Juicy says proudly.
He talks about some of his favorite songs of all-time, including the type of vintage soul he and Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul once sampled in their productions for UGK and OutKast’s “ International Players Anthem” and Three 6’s own “ Sippin’ on Some Syrup.” He’s aware of the extraordinary circumstances of his life so far-that it’s rare for a broke teenager from Memphis to become a hip-hop staple, Oscar winner, and burgeoning industry kingpin. Though his shades are pitch dark, the North Memphis native wears his experience on his face, with a relaxed demeanor. On a chilly weekday afternoon in New York City, he’s bundled up in a cozy black peacoat, a hoodie, and a neck-choking scarf. It’s difficult to imagine that this is the same guy whose most-recited line of the decade is, arguably, “You say no to ratchet pussy, Juicy J can’t.” He’s a partner in Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Entertainment, and he also has his own music publishing company. He carries himself like the businessman he’s become.
In person, though, the man born Jordan Houston is far from the loose cannon he seems to be on record. Juicy reinvented himself after Three 6 Mafia became the first rap group to win an Oscar, for their Hustle and Flow track “ It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” in 2006. He amplified his larger-than-life persona as he transitioned to a solo career, notching collaborations with everyone from Travis Scott to Fall Out Boy to Katy Perry. The group has also inspired hip-hop superstars like 21 Savage, whose latest album, I Am > I Was, drips with some of their terrorizing style, and Drake, who paid homage to Juicy J’s older brother-and frequent Three 6 collaborator- Project Pat on last year’s “ Look Alive.” More recently, Denzel Curry used the Three 6 aesthetic as the foundation of his artistic identity, from his rapid-fire triplet flow to his wicked cover art. Their influence has never stumbled out of relevance ever since.Īt the start of this decade, SpaceGhostPurrp embraced Three 6’s dark melodies and sinister lyrics, becoming an underground sensation. Led by Juicy J, the Memphis crew began solidifying their signature approach in the early 1990s, combining pianos inspired by horror film scores, dirty Southern drums, and menacing deliveries. Three 6 Mafia’s haunting sound will never die.
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