Fifteen years have passed since Three 6 Mafia released their first album 'Mystic Stylez.' That hip-hop era seems light years away from today's Downloading Age, dominated by acts like Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj. Which is why Juicy J, one of the founding members of the controversial and groundbreaking Memphis act, is shocked at the current interest his group has been garnering amongst younger rap fans.

"A lot of the new fans have been Googling the old Three 6 Mafia stuff," Juicy tells The BoomBox. "It's surprising that they know all the old songs. A lot of times when I'm doing a show and I see the younger kids out there I'm like, 'You probably wasn't even born when 'Tear Da Club Up' came out [laughs]. It's such a blessing, man."

But Three 6's newfound rebirth has not come out of a vacuum. Their headline-grabbing 2006 Oscar win for the song 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp' took the act to new pop culture levels and even helped them score a well-received 2007 reality show on MTV called 'Adventures in Hollywood.' Yet it's been Juicy J's own recent power moves that have shined the spotlight back on his group.

In late December, J released the acclaimed collaboration mixtape 'Rubba Band Business' with in-demand producer Lex Luger of 'BMF' (Rick Ross) and 'H.A.M.' (Kanye West and Jay-Z) fame. But perhaps the biggest surprise came when Juicy J was featured on the star-studded remix to Wiz Khalifa's No. 1 single 'Black and Yellow.' It was a guest spot that received positive notice from music critics, bloggers and hip-hop heads.

"That was another blessing, man," J says of the omnipresent track. "Me and Wiz met on Twitter. We just started talking on the phone about doing music together. He asked me to jump on the remix and I was shocked like, 'Wow, are you for real?' I did my thing, but I didn't know whether he was going to use it or not. It turned out to be a smash."

And Juicy J says Three 6 Mafia intends on capitalizing on his group's reinvigorating buzz with a new album entitled 'Laws of Power,' a project that has been in the making for more than two years.

"We've been doing so much work on this album that I can't even say when it's dropping," J says of a pending release date. "We've recorded over 75 songs. We will release something hopefully this summer. But it will be this year."



Watch Three 6 Mafia's 'Side 2 Side'
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