NEW YORK, NY (Hypnotize Minds/Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records) - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences revealed the nominees for the 78th Annual Academy Awards earlier today notably honoring Three 6 Mafia, the Dirty South's most uncompromising hip-hop ensemble, with a nomination in the Best Achievement In
Music Written for Motion
Pictures (Original Song) category.
Three 6 Mafia's track, "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp," from the highly-acclaimed hip-hop drama "Hustle & Flow" (which won the Audience Award at Sundance), paints an unflinching and indelible picture of the gritty world of grass-roots hip-hop, mirroring in music the blistering inner-city turmoil portrayed in the film. "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" features music and lyric by Jordan (Juicy J) Houston, Cedric (Crunchy Black) Coleman and Paul (DJ Paul) Beauregard (aka Three 6 Mafia).
Written and directed by Craig Brewer, "Hustle & Flow" (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment) presents a tough and honest look at the hip-hop underground of Memphis, Tennessee, the birthplace of Three 6 Mafia.
The Academy Award nomination is the latest in a series of triumphs for Three 6 Mafia, who've just become the first African-American rap group in history to be nominated for a Best Song Oscar trophy. It's also a major victory for hip-hop itself as the groundbreaking art form, as represented by Three 6 Mafia, breaks out of the underground and achieves bona fide recognition from the entertainment mainstream. The Three 6 Mafia nomination marks the second time in Oscar history that a hip-hop act has been honored with a Best Song nomination by the Academy. The first was Eminem for "8 Mile" in 2002 (he won).
The latest Three 6 Mafia single, "Poppin' My Collar," featuring Project Pat, is currently in rotation at MTV2 and BET and is the No 3 Most Watched Video on MTV2.com. The track, which was a "New Joint" on "106th and Park" on January 26, is currently the No 2 Most Added record at Urban Mainstream radio.
The group has several upcoming television appearances scheduled including an episode of MTV "Cribs" (airing Wednesday, February 1) and an MTV "Wild N Out" performance of "Poppin' My Collar" (airing Thursday, February 2). Three 6 Mafia will be featured on MTV's "Jamie Kennedy Show" this spring.
The group's last single, "Stay Fly" is a platinum certified digital single and is currently No 2 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart, No 19 Top 40 Rhythm and a Top 5 single at Urban Mainstream.
More than 1.5 million Three 6 Mafia ringtones have been sold to-date.
Last October, Most Known Unknown, the latest album from Three 6 Mafia, entered the Billboard Top 200 album sales chart at No 3 while also debuting at No 1 on both the R&B Album Sales and the Rap Album Sales charts. The album has been certified gold and is rapidly approaching platinum.
Most Known Unknown once again upped the ante on Three 6 Mafia, whose previous album, the RIAA Gold-certified Da Unbreakables, debuted at No 4 on the Top 200 in 2003 and the Rap album sales chart at No 1. Da Unbreakables became the No 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 No 6 on Billboard's Top 200 album sales chart, and has sold well over one million copies. As if musical success wasn'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.
