10
9 8
7
6
24 // OZONE MAG
Larger Bank Account = More Handouts – A lot more zeros were added to my bank account. Three 6 Mafia has sold millions of records independently since we been out in ’91, so I had a lot of zeros to begin with. But I did get a lot of extra ones after the Oscar. And now, people know my face from the TV show so I got more people looking for handouts. I got people that I don’t even know walking up to me in the streets asking for money.
a guy at Karl Kani. Now I get a lot of calls for shows overseas.
5
A Lot of Extra Women – The caliber of women is…whoo! I could show you some pictures of these girls and you’d shit yourself. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but I always had a good caliber of women to begin with. I just got a nice, nice caliber after the Oscar. Now I got the rich girls that I usually never got before. They ain’t the scary girls with gold teeth and tattoos like they were before. Cars – The cars actually got cheaper, to be honest. I done had every car you could name but I stopped doing that ‘cause cars depreciate too much. When I won the Oscar I was riding in a Rolls Royce Phantom. These days I got a Hummer and an S550 Mercedes and a Smart Car. The Smart Car is made by Mercedes Benz and it’s real small. It’s a lil bitty car that don’t use no gas. You can ride for $300 a year in gas. That’s what I use to go the grocery store or the studio, just for quick trips. I ain’t gon’ pull up to no fancy restaurant in it. It don’t use no gas. I got to the point where I was thinking, I spend my money on a lot of dumb shit like drugs and a lot of alcohol, but gas gotta be the dumbest thing in the world to waste money on! My Hummer was eating up over $100 a week in gas. I was like, this is dumb. That’s like throwing away a pair of Air Jordans every week and it don’t make no sense. I stopped wearing Air Jordans ‘cause they got so expensive. So why wouldn’t I buy Air Jordans, which is something I love, when I’m spending money on gas? Nigga, fucking gas? When the country took over the gas, or whatever they did, and the gas prices went up, I’m like fuck that! More Houses – Right now I’ve got two houses in L.A., two houses in Memphis, and a house in Florida. I’m finna start branching out into other countries. I had the two houses in Memphis and the house in Florida before the Oscar, but not the houses in L.A. My Florida house was on MTV Cribs. I was getting into buying properties before the Oscar, but afterwards I got into it more because I started seeing more. I saw how the property was so much more valuable in California than a lot of other places. Seeing More of the World – We did an overseas tour. We coulda went overseas before – we got called to do that but we never liked to fly. We still don’t like to fly. We always rode everywhere. We got two custom vans with flat screen TVs, refrigerators, Playstations, and everything. We never flew nowhere unless it was really serious. When we went to California we had to fly more so I got used to flying, and I got hooked up with my first overseas tour through
4 3 2 1
We Have to Work Harder – Being in California opened my eyes. I got lazy when I was at home in Memphis all the time. I would just sit and BBQ and drink beer every fucking day. All my houses and stuff in the South were paid for ‘cause it was so much cheaper. I was to the point where I was like, “I don’t gotta go overseas. I didn’t really need the money.” But when I moved to California, it’s so much more expensive. It’s like triple the price of everything in the South [so] it gave me a whole new outlook on money and grinding. In order to maintain all my properties and keep living the way I am, and while I got all this stuff coming to me, I might as well take advantage of it. In L.A., every car you see is a Rolls Royce or a Maybach or a Ferrari, and I’m the type of guy that if I see something I want I go get it. It’s a Different Style in L.A. – If you go to L.A. and look at the news, and then you go back to the South and look at the news, tell me the difference you see. The women on the news in L.A. look like models. They have big ass titties! Some of the news ladies are even actresses on the side. I love my city, but it’s just a different style. The women on the news in Memphis look more like your auntie. The women on the news in L.A. look like your girlfriend or fuck partner. The Respect Level Increased – The respect level went up. We always had a lot of respect, we were never into bullshit, but it’s so much more now. I can go anywhere. You can take me to L.A. or drop me in any hood and I’ma come out with a hundred niggas that wanna roll with me. Right now I’m in a hotel in Miami; it’s packed with all kinds of cars. As soon as I walk outta here I get mad love from everybody. Bigger Fan Base – After the Oscar and the TV show, more people know us now. A lot of people think that Three 6 Mafia just started with “Stay Fly” and the Oscar, but we’ve been out here since ‘91. Things Move Faster – Everything hit all at one time. The last album was the true meaning of “watch what you wish for.” We had made a lot of money, but we had never been on the cover of a lot of major magazines. There were a lot of things we had never done even though we had sold more records than a bunch of people in the music business. We had never won any awards for nothing. The first award I ever won was the Oscar. I never won shit in my whole life! Man, I would twist open a Sprite top and wouldn’t win nothing. If I opened a Cracker Jack box it didn’t have the toy in the bottom of it. That’s how bad my luck was. But once we made that album, things changed overnight. It was the first time we had three strong, hit singles on one album. Then the Oscar came, then the TV show – shit just started rolling.
Nominated for Best Group As told to Ms Rivercity (by DJ Paul) // Photo by Ty Watkins