After becoming the first rap group to win an Oscar, Three 6 Mafia is riding high.
Juicy J, one of the groups original members spoke to BET.com about the groups recent win, kickin’ it with Dolly Parton and upcoming projects.
On winning the Oscar: “I couldn’t believe it. It was such an adrenaline rush; it was big. I was like “whaaaaat? She couldn’t have said our name.” I couldn’t believe it. Every time someone asks me this question, I keep thinking about how when I was looking at the stage at Queen Latifah from the side and when she opened that letter up, it was just the biggest highlight of my life man.
On Terrence Howard not performing with the group: “When I saw Terrence Howard, he didn’t really give me an explanation of why he didn’t perform with us but when I spoke to him at the Oscar’s luncheon about two or three weeks ago, he was like, “man, they wanted me to perform but I’m not going to perform. I’m going to go ahead and let y’all have it. I want y’all to go on stage. It’s your time, yall been around for years and I want yall to do it.” I was like, “cool.” As far as the rumors, I’ve heard a lot of stuff but I’m not really paying any attention to it. We were blessed with this Oscar and I’m so happy right now, a person would have to shoot me to make me upset right now. As far as people saying all these things, I’m just going to pray for them. I don’t think they should look at it as it being a bad song or that it’s bringing black people down—because it’s not—it’s an original song for a movie and they should be happy for us. We’ve been around for a long time and we’re using our talents for something positive. We won an Oscar, we’re the first rap group ever to perform at the Oscars and they should be happy for us.”
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(editors note: Howard is said to have been approached by several black actors in Hollywood and asked not to perform the song)
On meeting Dolly Parton: “Yeah, I actually met her at this reception they had for all the nominees and she was so cool, man. I took a picture with her and she was like, “Oh, we’re all from Tennessee so no matter who wins; we’re both going to win.” Dolly Parton is real cool.”
On the other award show attendees: “Everybody showed us a lot of love, but I think the biggest thing about meeting people at the Academy Awards before and after is that they don’t know us. Some people have heard of us, but Three 6 Mafia isn’t that known and the people that have heard of us probably still don’t know us. When you get to know us and you see that we’re so cool and laid back, people are like, “oh these guys are cool, and they’re not coming in here smelling like weed with pistols in their pocket.” We walk into the parties, we smile at everyone, do the interviews, and it’s all positive energy. When word started getting around, that’s when everyone else started approaching us. Folks are so scared to walk up to a rapper; you see the diamond teeth and you’re wondering what in the world is going on. When everyone saw that we were cool, they just embraced us. I hope they go buy the CD tomorrow.”
