STILL AHEAD OF THE GAME
Decades in the music business. #1 hits. Multiple Gold and Platinum records. An Academy Award. A sound that helped redefine Southern hip-hop and continues to influence music today.
You might think DJ Paul, co-founder of the legendary Three 6 Mafia, would be ready to slow down.
You would be wrong.
More than three decades after helping create the unmistakable Memphis sound that took Three 6 Mafia from underground mixtapes to worldwide recognition, DJ Paul is still doing what he has always done—creating, evolving, and staying ahead of the curve.
Three 6 Mafia became the first hip-hop group to win an Academy Award when “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” from Hustle & Flow, took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2006. But awards tell only part of the story.
The sound DJ Paul and Juicy J pioneered in Memphis decades ago can still be heard throughout modern hip-hop.
Long before the industry caught up, Paul knew Three 6 Mafia was carving out its own lane. Dark production, hypnotic melodies, aggressive drums, and an unmistakable Memphis energy created a sound that didn’t fit neatly into what everyone else was doing at the time.
That turned out to be the point.
As DJ Paul once told us:
“Everybody else is just now catching up to the sound.”
Years later, that statement feels even more relevant.
THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED
When Three 6 Mafia’s members began focusing more heavily on individual projects, some fans assumed the group’s run was coming to an end. DJ Paul saw it differently. He and Juicy J had always produced, collaborated, and created outside the group.
The music never stopped.
Today, neither has Paul.
DJ Paul released Goat of All Goats, continuing a solo catalog that stretches across decades. He has also remained prolific through new singles and collaborations, working across generations and genres while introducing the Memphis sound to another wave of listeners.
At the same time, the Three 6 Mafia story has come full circle, with DJ Paul and Juicy J once again sharing stages and bringing the music to audiences that now include both longtime fans and a generation that wasn’t even born when some of their classic records were created.
Paul is also looking forward. His growing list of projects includes collaborations with Freddie Gibbs, Krayzie Bone, Young Buck, 8Ball & MJG, Lil Wyte, and others. For an artist whose career began in the underground Memphis scene, remaining culturally relevant decades later may be one of his greatest accomplishments.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF LIFESTYLE
Paul’s evolution hasn’t been limited to music.
After living the equivalent of several rock-star lives, he began making major changes to his lifestyle.
The deaths of his brother and Three 6 Mafia collaborator Lord Infamous in 2013 and fellow Three 6 Mafia member Koopsta Knicca in 2015 had a profound impact on him.
The nonstop partying that once came with the lifestyle was replaced by a greater focus on health, working out, training, and a more conscious approach to what he puts into his body.
The lifestyle changed.
The work ethic didn’t.
CHAMPAGNE WISHES
One thing that hasn’t changed is DJ Paul’s love for Rolls-Royce.
It is a relationship with the brand that goes far deeper than simply owning the cars. The iconic Rolls-Royce “RR” insignia is tattooed prominently on his neck and chest.
His fascination with the brand began long before the hit records and awards.
Growing up in Memphis, Paul watched Robin Leach showcase a world of mansions, exotic cars, and unimaginable wealth on the television series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Leach famously closed the show with the words:
“Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.”
For a young DJ Paul, those words represented a world far removed from the Memphis neighborhood where he was growing up.
But instead of simply watching that world on television, he envisioned himself becoming part of it.
Paul would eventually purchase his first Rolls-Royce Phantom in 2003, beginning a long relationship with the marque and owning multiple Rolls-Royce models over the years.
Even more remarkable, the kid who grew up watching Robin Leach eventually became friends with him.
Paul had the opportunity to tell Leach firsthand how Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous had inspired him as a child. The two would later spend time together alongside personalities including Criss Angel and Flavor Flav.
Those “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” had become reality.
MORE THAN MUSIC
Music built the foundation, but DJ Paul never viewed himself as simply a recording artist.
Over the years, he has expanded into entrepreneurship, investing, and entertainment ventures outside the recording studio. Real estate has become an important part of that story, along with his involvement in the restaurant business, including The Hideaway in Beverly Hills.
It reflects the same mentality that helped build Three 6 Mafia in the first place: create your own lane, own what you can, and keep moving.
DJ Paul’s story has always represented something familiar.
Music. Cars. Fashion. Entrepreneurship. Individuality.
Different worlds connected through culture.
STILL CREATING
The music industry has changed dramatically since Three 6 Mafia first began selling underground tapes in Memphis.
But somehow, much of that sound eventually came back around to where DJ Paul and Three 6 Mafia had already been.
That’s what makes Paul’s career unique. He isn’t simply celebrating what happened 20 or 30 years ago. He’s still releasing music, collaborating with new generations of artists, performing, and building businesses.:
“I’ll keep creating music even if I’m the only one listening.”
Fortunately for DJ Paul, he is far from the only one listening.
ONE IN A MILLION
DJ Paul’s connection to Lexani continues in ONE IN A MILLION, Lexani’s new six-part cinematic series built around a legendary set of one-of-one wheels rumored to be worth $1 million.
For DJ Paul and Lexani, it’s another chapter in a relationship built around individuality, luxury, and doing things differently.
Stay connected with DJ Paul @djpaulkom