Locally, on the ground, many date the origins of horrorcore all the way back to the mid-’80s during the war on drugs in Memphis. Based on the use of distorted synths, warped samples and high-pitched triplet-laced verses, horrorcore was unheard of outside of Memphis, but the visionary minds of Juicy J and DJ Paul were determined to have their music reach past I-40. Lord Infamous, Juicy J and DJ Paul helped build the body of what we know as horrorcore, a subgenre of aesthetic, lyrical and thematic foundations that reverberates to this very day. While the truest origins of the group morphs based on what starting point you look at, the group officially formed in 1991 after the local fame of “Da Serial Killaz,” a 16-part mixtape series that led to additional members joining and official distribution deals from any country or blues label that would take them at the time. Three 6 Mafia, beginning as a trio of just DJ Paul, Juicy J and Paul’s brother Lord Infamous, launched a legacy of hip-hop culture shift that scared the public and made the world take a second look at the kids of the underbelly.Īt their height, Three 6 Mafia put out nine studio albums containing the genius of DJ Paul, Juicy J, Gangsta Boo, Koopsta Knicca, Crunchy Black and Lord Infamous. When the children of the undead - in this case, poor Black kids born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee - started mixing soul samples into the horrorcore sonics about surviving poverty, drug culture and making plain the reality of living in the Bluff City, they changed hip-hop forever. What do you do when you are the underdog’s underdog? When you are the last counted and forever erased in a legacy of Black social music that carries your DNA? What do you call yourself in a world that has shown you nothing but strife, gut-wrenching joy and sullen grief that sits on top of your skin? You call yourself the Children of Satan and embrace what the world already sees you as, the undead.
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