Mystic Stylez

Formation Three 6 Mafia formed in 1991 in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally known as "Backyard Posse", the group consisted of DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Lord Infamous. The group formed through the release of numerous EPs from their own record company with Nick Scarfo, Prophet, which were sold around Memphis and throughout the South. More members joined the group over the years, including Koopsta Knicca, Gangsta Boo, and Crunchy Black. Recording Recording sessions for Mystic Stylez took place in a studio in northern Memphis known as The Production Room. The album was recorded on 16-track reel-to-reel tape. As Juicy J recalled, "We went in the studio and just made records, man. Go in there, got high, drank, and just made records. That's all I remember doing. I can't remember 'I came up with... Who did...' We just made the beats. We all just came in and contributed, and the shit came out hard." During the recording of Mystic Stylez, Three 6 Mafia were listening to music by artists and groups such as N.W.A., Geto Boys, Willie Hutch, KRS-One, and Isaac Hayes. ==Musical style and lyrics==

Described as horrorcore, These subjects are mostly underscored by dark, menacing beats. ==Controversy==

During the development of Mystic Stylez, Three 6 Mafia was engaged in a feud with Ohio rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Three 6 Mafia accused Bone Thugs-n-Harmony of copying their style and released the diss song "Live by Yo Rep (B.O.N.E. Dis)". Juicy J spoke about the feud years after the album was released saying "Man when we did that we was young and stupid—being real. We was young and stupid.... It wasn't ever no beef, man. We cool with them, they good people, just some stupid shit back in the day, man. They good dudes, man. We did some music with one of them, Krayzie Bone... something back in the late 90s, something on Project Pat's album." DJ Paul spoke about the feud, saying, "It wasn't a real beef... It was more of a misunderstanding because we was rapping about triple six, devil shit, and tongue twisting over slow beats. We had been doing that since 1989 and then all of a sudden when Bone came out—I think it was 1993... We didn't know the Faces of Death album because it was their underground stuff. Just like they probably didn't know our underground stuff. When they came out with 'Thuggish Ruggish Bone' and all of that stuff and we hear somebody kind of on our same style: Faces of Death, redrum, murder, 6-6-6, tongue twisting. We were like, 'Damn these dudes done stole our style!' [Laughs] That's why we got mad about it. We ran into each other a couple of times and there was a push or something. But there was never no fight or nothing like that." DJ Paul also recounted the eventual reconciliation between the two groups: "Our first song was with Krayzie Bone on Project Pat's Ghetty Green album maybe in 1997 [or] 1998 or something like that. We've been cool ever since then." ==Exposure, recognition, and legacy==

Regarded as "one of the essential Southern hip-hop albums", Mystic Stylez has been described as a defining example of horrorcore. The album led the way for a whole subset of Memphis rap and would influence other artists for decades to come. Despite not getting popularity and instead being an underground album, Mystic Stylez has been praised by critics Mystic Stylez is cited as one of the forerunners of crunk and trap. The group's debut into exposure had a rocky beginning mostly because local Memphis radio, at first, refused to play Three 6 Mafia's music. However, when staff heard "Da Summa", they eventually decided to play it, making it the group's first radio-aired song. ==Track listing==

;Original version • All songs are produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J {{track listing ;2001 reissue ==Personnel==

Vocal artists • DJ Paul • Juicy J • Lord Infamous • Crunchy Black • Koopsta Knicca • Gangsta Boo • MC Mack • Lil' Fly • La' Chat • Kingpin Skinny Pimp • Lil Gin Production and instrumentation • DJ Paul and Juicy J – producers • Wayne Tucker – bass guitar • DJ Paul – keyboards • Archie Luv – audio engineer Other staff • M&L Photography – cover photograph • CMYK – art direction and design • Teflon Music – publishing ==Charts==