NEW YORK, April 11 -- Hypnotize Minds/Columbia Records
announce the upcoming release of Last 2 Walk, the first new full-length
album from Three 6 Mafia since 2006, when the record-breaking
history-making Memphis hip-hop ensemble became the first African-American
rap group ever to win the Best Original Song Oscar. One of the year's most
heavily anticipated album releases in any genre, Three 6 Mafia's Last 2
Walk will be available in stores and online Tuesday, June 24.
The brainchild of Three 6 Mafia founding members DJ Paul and Juicy J,
Last 2 Walk premieres the future club anthem, "Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)"
featuring hardcore rapper Project Pat (Juicy J's brother and longtime
member of the Hypnotize Minds' hip-hop collective), the rising Three 6
Mafia protege Young D, and Superpower.
The album includes the salacious new single "I'd Rather" featuring Unk,
"That's Right" featuring Akon, and the long-awaited "My Own Way"
collaboration with Good Charlotte.
*****
Three 6 Mafia secured its place in hip-hop history and the annals of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences when "It's Hard Out Here For
A Pimp," from the highly acclaimed "Hustle & Flow," took home the Best
Achievement In Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Oscar
statue on Sunday, March 5, 2006.
The Academy Award win was the most visible of a long series of triumphs
for Three 6 Mafia. That year's Best Song Oscar also represented a major
victory for hip-hop itself as the groundbreaking art form, as represented
by Three 6 Mafia, broke out of the underground to achieve bona fide
recognition from the mainstream. That same year, Three 6 Mafia was
presented with the Key to The City of Memphis by Mayor Willie W. Herenton,
the city's first African-American mayor and became the first rap performers
to be given a "Note on Beale Street," the Memphis equivalent of a star on
Hollywood Boulevard.
Originally released in late 2005, Most Known Unknown, the last major
label release from Three 6 Mafia prior to Last To Walk, was singled out as
"one of the year's best hip-hop albums," by Kelefa Sanneh in a "Critic's
Choice" review in The New York Times. The RIAA platinum-certified Most
Known Unknown entered the Billboard Top 200 album sales chart at #3 while
also debuting at #1 on both the R&B Album Sales and the Rap Album Sales
charts.
Most Known Unknown once again upped the ante on Three 6 Mafia, whose
previous album, the RIAA Gold-certified Da Unbreakables, debuted at #4 on
the Top 200 in 2003 and the Rap album sales chart at #1. Da Unbreakables
became the #1 best-selling album in Birmingham, Chattanooga, Jackson,
Knoxville, Little Rock, Memphis, Mobile, Nashville, and Paducah.
Garnering a cult-like following since their humble beginnings peddling
TDK mix tapes, the Memphis, Tennessee-based Three 6 Mafia personify the
essence of Down South Hip-Hop. With an ever-growing string of gold and
platinum accomplishments, the group has never lost its core connection to
the pulse of the underground. Three 6 Mafia has had a series of successful
recordings dating back to 1995 and the group's initial releases: the first
independent release, Smoked Out, Loced Out, the first full-length album,
Mystic Stylez (which sold more than 200,000 copies), and the Live By Your
Rep EP.
Three 6 Mafia scored its first major label success in 1997 with Chapter
2: World Domination (Relativity), which sold over 800,000 copies. The group
claimed gold status on the destructive lead single, "Tear Da Club Up." Even
more success came with the follow-up album, When The Smoke Clears, in 2000.
That album debuted at #6 on Billboard's Top 200 album sales chart, and has
sold well over one million copies. As if musical success weren't enough,
the group moved into the video realm, releasing the Choices DVD and Choices
soundtrack album in 2001. The Choices DVD has sold more than 100,000 units
(which is platinum status for home DVDs/videos). A well-received follow-up
DVD, Choices II: The Set-Up, was released in March 2005.
Three 6 Mafia starred in the MTV reality show "Adventures In Hollyhood."
For more information:
http://www.three6-mafia.com
http://www.myspace.com/threesixmafia
http://www.columbiarecords.com
