Three 6 Mafia - Mystic Stylez

Memphis was never a camp that was especially prevalent in the rap arena. That was until the mid-1990s, when Juicy J, Gangsta Boo and the remainder of the Three 6 Mafia put the city on the map using low-grade studio equipment to create grimy, haunted hip-hop that is now recognised as “horrorcore”. Three 6 Mafia were concocting ghoulish horrorcore rap 3 years before Eminem and way before Tyler, The Creator would catch fire from it. The subgenre would have only been awoken by setting a treacherous precedent; their trademark sinister raps feel displaced when played anywhere away from the dead of night.

“Live By Yo Rep”, a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony diss, lays violent, demonic imagery over an eldritch beat, and while these lyrics that summon gun violence and hard drug use were incredibly taboo at the time, in today’s hip-hop field, not only are they a staple, they are a cliché staple. The standout on this track is Lord Infamous, throwing razor-edged flows along the many gruesome, detailed methods of maiming Bone Thugs. His aggressive projections can be seen across the hip-hop spectrum, from Denzel Curry to A$AP Rocky, and the roaming, nonsensical chants would later bleed into the heart of crunk music, as well as the hypnotising triplet flows of Migos.

From their grandkids in Raider Klan and A$AP Mob to the deep caverns of Soundcloud rap that once housed Yung Lean and $uicideboy$, it is clear that Three 6 Mafia’s ideas were far removed from their contemporaries, and instead was the archetype for the new generation of hip-hop. Though the battalion have long disbanded, it has casted a long shadow into the genre, with the idea to make hip-hop sound truly horrifying.